Virtual GPU Software

User Guide

DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | April 2021

 Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction to NVIDIA vGPU Software..............................................................1
1.1. How NVIDIA vGPU Software Is Used....................................................................................... 1
1.1.2. GPU Pass-Through.............................................................................................................1
1.1.3. Bare-Metal Deployment.....................................................................................................1
1.2. Primary Display Adapter Requirements for NVIDIA vGPU Software Deployments................2
1.3. NVIDIA vGPU Software Features............................................................................................. 3
1.3.1. GPU Instance Support on NVIDIA vGPU Software............................................................3
1.3.2. API Support on NVIDIA vGPU............................................................................................ 4
1.3.3. NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit and OpenCL Support on NVIDIA vGPU Software...........................5
1.3.4. Additional vWS Features.................................................................................................... 7
1.3.5. NVIDIA GPU Cloud (NGC) Containers Support on NVIDIA vGPU Software...................... 7
1.3.6. NVIDIA GPU Operator Support.......................................................................................... 7
1.4. How this Guide Is Organized....................................................................................................8
Chapter 2. Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager................................ 10
2.1. About NVIDIA Virtual GPUs.................................................................................................... 10
2.1.1. NVIDIA vGPU Architecture............................................................................................... 10
2.1.1.1. Time-Sliced NVIDIA vGPU Internal Architecture..................................................... 11
2.1.1.2. MIG-Backed NVIDIA vGPU Internal Architecture.....................................................12
2.1.2. About Virtual GPU Types..................................................................................................13
2.1.3. Virtual Display Resolutions for Q-series and B-series vGPUs.......................................15
2.1.4. Valid Virtual GPU Configurations on a Single GPU........................................................ 16
2.1.4.1. Valid Time-Sliced Virtual GPU Configurations on a Single GPU............................. 16
2.1.4.2. Valid MIG-Backed Virtual GPU Configurations on a Single GPU.............................17
2.1.5. Guest VM Support............................................................................................................ 17
2.1.5.1. Windows Guest VM Support...................................................................................... 18
2.1.5.2. Linux Guest VM support............................................................................................ 18
2.2. Prerequisites for Using NVIDIA vGPU................................................................................... 18
2.3. Switching the Mode of a GPU that Supports Multiple Display Modes..................................19
2.4. Switching the Mode of a Tesla M60 or M6 GPU....................................................................20
2.5. Installing and Configuring the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for Citrix Hypervisor..............20
2.5.1. Installing and Updating the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for Citrix Hypervisor........... 21
2.5.1.1. Installing the RPM package for Citrix Hypervisor....................................................21
2.5.1.2. Updating the RPM Package for Citrix Hypervisor.................................................... 21
2.5.1.3. Installing or Updating the Supplemental Pack for Citrix Hypervisor...................... 22

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 2.5.1.4. Verifying the Installation of the NVIDIA vGPU Software for Citrix Hypervisor
Package.............................................................................................................................. 24
2.5.2. Configuring a Citrix Hypervisor VM with Virtual GPU.....................................................25
2.6. Installing the Virtual GPU Manager Package for Linux KVM................................................26
2.7. Installing and Configuring the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for Red Hat Enterprise Linux
KVM or RHV............................................................................................................................... 27
2.7.1. Installing the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or
RHV......................................................................................................................................... 28
2.7.1.1. Installing the Virtual GPU Manager Package for Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM
or RHV.................................................................................................................................28
2.7.1.2. Verifying the Installation of the NVIDIA vGPU Software for Red Hat Enterprise
Linux KVM or RHV............................................................................................................. 29
2.7.2. Adding a vGPU to a Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) VM.....................................................30
2.7.3. Getting the BDF and Domain of a GPU on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM................... 31
2.7.4. Creating an NVIDIA vGPU on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM........................................32
2.7.5. Adding One or More vGPUs to a Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM VM.............................34
2.7.5.1. Adding One or More vGPUs to a Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM VM by Using
virsh.....................................................................................................................................35
2.7.5.2. Adding One or More vGPUs to a Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM VM by Using the
QEMU Command Line....................................................................................................... 36
2.7.6. Setting vGPU Plugin Parameters on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM............................ 36
2.7.7. Deleting a vGPU on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM.......................................................37
2.7.8. Preparing a GPU Configured for Pass-Through for Use with vGPU..............................38
2.7.9. NVIDIA vGPU Information in the sysfs File System........................................................40
2.8. Installing and Configuring the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for VMware vSphere............. 42
2.8.1. Installing and Updating the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for vSphere......................... 43
2.8.1.1. Installing the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager Package for vSphere.......................... 44
2.8.1.2. Updating the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager Package for vSphere...........................45
2.8.1.3. Verifying the Installation of the NVIDIA vGPU Software Package for vSphere...... 45
2.8.2. Configuring VMware vMotion with vGPU for VMware vSphere...................................... 46
2.8.3. Changing the Default Graphics Type in VMware vSphere 6.5 and Later....................... 47
2.8.4. Configuring a vSphere VM with NVIDIA vGPU................................................................ 51
2.8.5. Configuring a vSphere VM with VMware vSGA............................................................... 54
2.9. Configuring a GPU for MIG-Backed vGPUs...........................................................................55
2.9.1. Enabling MIG Mode for a GPU........................................................................................ 55
2.9.2. Creating GPU Instances on a MIG-Enabled GPU........................................................... 56
2.9.3. Optional: Creating Compute Instances in a GPU instance.............................................57
2.10. Disabling MIG Mode for One or More GPUs........................................................................59
2.11. Disabling and Enabling ECC Memory.................................................................................. 60

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 2.11.1. Disabling ECC Memory.................................................................................................. 61
2.11.2. Enabling ECC Memory................................................................................................... 62
Chapter 3. Using GPU Pass-Through................................................................................ 64
3.1. Display Resolutions for Physical GPUs................................................................................. 65
3.2. Using GPU Pass-Through on Citrix Hypervisor.....................................................................66
3.2.1. Configuring a VM for GPU Pass Through by Using XenCenter...................................... 66
3.2.2. Configuring a VM for GPU Pass Through by Using xe................................................... 67
3.3. Using GPU Pass-Through on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM..............................................68
3.3.1. Configuring a VM for GPU Pass-Through by Using Virtual Machine Manager (virt-
manager)................................................................................................................................ 68
3.3.2. Configuring a VM for GPU Pass-Through by Using virsh...............................................69
3.3.3. Configuring a VM for GPU Pass-Through by Using the QEMU Command Line.............70
3.3.4. Preparing a GPU Configured for vGPU for Use in Pass-Through Mode........................71
3.4. Using GPU Pass-Through on Microsoft Windows Server..................................................... 73
3.4.1. Assigning a GPU to a VM on Microsoft Windows Server with Hyper-V.......................... 74
3.4.2. Returning a GPU to the Host OS from a VM on Windows Server with Hyper-V............. 75
3.5. Using GPU Pass-Through on VMware vSphere.................................................................... 76
Chapter 4. Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver.................................... 78
4.1. Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver on Windows..................................... 78
4.2. Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver on Linux...........................................80
4.3. Disabling the Wayland Display Server Protocol for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.................... 83
Chapter 5. Licensing an NVIDIA vGPU...............................................................................85
5.1. Licensing an NVIDIA vGPU on Windows................................................................................85
5.2. Licensing an NVIDIA vGPU on Linux......................................................................................87
Chapter 6. Modifying a VM's NVIDIA vGPU Configuration................................................. 89
6.1. Removing a VM’s NVIDIA vGPU Configuration...................................................................... 89
6.1.1. Removing a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VM’s vGPU configuration.......................89
6.1.1.1. Removing a VM’s vGPU configuration by using XenCenter..................................... 89
6.1.1.2. Removing a VM’s vGPU configuration by using xe...................................................90
6.1.2. Removing a vSphere VM’s vGPU Configuration..............................................................90
6.2. Modifying GPU Allocation Policy............................................................................................ 91
6.2.1. Modifying GPU Allocation Policy on Citrix Hypervisor.................................................... 91
6.2.1.1. Modifying GPU Allocation Policy by Using xe...........................................................91
6.2.1.2. Modifying GPU Allocation Policy GPU by Using XenCenter..................................... 92
6.2.2. Modifying GPU Allocation Policy on VMware vSphere....................................................92
6.3. Migrating a VM Configured with vGPU.................................................................................. 95
6.3.1. Migrating a VM Configured with vGPU on Citrix Hypervisor.......................................... 96

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 6.3.2. Migrating a VM Configured with vGPU on VMware vSphere.......................................... 96
6.3.3. Suspending and Resuming a VM Configured with vGPU on VMware vSphere.............. 98
6.4. Modifying a MIG-Backed vGPU's Configuration.................................................................... 99
6.5. Enabling Unified Memory for a vGPU.................................................................................. 102
6.5.1. Enabling Unified Memory for a vGPU on Citrix Hypervisor.......................................... 102
6.5.2. Enabling Unified Memory for a vGPU on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM.................... 102
6.5.3. Enabling Unified Memory for a vGPU on VMware vSphere.......................................... 103
Chapter 7. Monitoring GPU Performance........................................................................104
7.1. NVIDIA System Management Interface nvidia-smi............................................................. 104
7.2. Monitoring GPU Performance from a Hypervisor............................................................... 105
7.2.1. Using nvidia-smi to Monitor GPU Performance from a Hypervisor.............................105
7.2.1.1. Getting a Summary of all Physical GPUs in the System........................................105
7.2.1.2. Getting a Summary of all vGPUs in the System.....................................................106
7.2.1.3. Getting vGPU Details............................................................................................... 107
7.2.1.4. Monitoring vGPU engine usage...............................................................................107
7.2.1.5. Monitoring vGPU engine usage by applications..................................................... 108
7.2.1.6. Monitoring Encoder Sessions................................................................................. 109
7.2.1.7. Monitoring Frame Buffer Capture (FBC) Sessions................................................ 110
7.2.1.8. Listing Supported vGPU Types................................................................................115
7.2.1.9. Listing the vGPU Types that Can Currently Be Created........................................ 116
7.2.2. Using Citrix XenCenter to monitor GPU performance................................................. 116
7.3. Monitoring GPU Performance from a Guest VM.................................................................117
7.3.1. Using nvidia-smi to Monitor GPU Performance from a Guest VM...............................118
7.3.2. Using Windows Performance Counters to monitor GPU performance....................... 119
7.3.3. Using NVWMI to monitor GPU performance................................................................ 120
Chapter 8. Changing Scheduling Behavior for Time-Sliced vGPUs................................ 123
8.1. Scheduling Policies for Time-Sliced vGPUs........................................................................ 123
8.2. Scheduler Time Slice for Time-Sliced vGPUs..................................................................... 124
8.3. RmPVMRL Registry Key........................................................................................................124
8.4. Getting the Current Time-Sliced vGPU Scheduling Behavior for All GPUs........................126
8.5. Changing the Time-Sliced vGPU Scheduling Behavior for All GPUs..................................127
8.6. Changing the Time-Sliced vGPU Scheduling Behavior for Select GPUs............................128
8.7. Restoring Default Time-Sliced vGPU Scheduler Settings.................................................. 129
Chapter 9. Troubleshooting..............................................................................................131
9.1. Known issues........................................................................................................................ 131
9.2. Troubleshooting steps.......................................................................................................... 131
9.2.1. Verifying the NVIDIA Kernel Driver Is Loaded.............................................................. 131
9.2.2. Verifying that nvidia-smi works..................................................................................... 132

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 9.2.3. Examining NVIDIA kernel driver output........................................................................ 132
9.2.4. Examining NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager Messages.....................................................132
9.2.4.1. Examining Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Manager Messages.........................................132
9.2.4.2. Examining Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM vGPU Manager Messages.................. 133
9.2.4.3. Examining VMware vSphere vGPU Manager Messages........................................ 134
9.3. Capturing configuration data for filing a bug report...........................................................134
9.3.1. Capturing configuration data by running nvidia-bug-report.sh................................... 134
9.3.2. Capturing Configuration Data by Creating a Citrix Hypervisor Status Report............. 135
Appendix A. Virtual GPU Types Reference.......................................................................137
A.1. Virtual GPU Types for Supported GPUs.............................................................................. 137
A.1.1. NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40GB Virtual GPU Types................................................................. 137
A.1.2. NVIDIA A100 HGX 40GB Virtual GPU Types.................................................................. 138
A.1.3. NVIDIA A100 HGX 80GB Virtual GPU Types.................................................................. 139
A.1.4. NVIDIA A40 Virtual GPU Types...................................................................................... 141
A.1.5. NVIDIA A10 Virtual GPU Types...................................................................................... 144
A.1.6. NVIDIA RTX A6000 Virtual GPU Types...........................................................................147
A.1.7. NVIDIA RTX A5000 Virtual GPU Types...........................................................................151
A.1.8. Tesla M60 Virtual GPU Types........................................................................................ 154
A.1.9. Tesla M10 Virtual GPU Types........................................................................................ 157
A.1.10. Tesla M6 Virtual GPU Types........................................................................................ 159
A.1.11. Tesla P100 PCIe 12GB Virtual GPU Types.................................................................. 162
A.1.12. Tesla P100 PCIe 16GB Virtual GPU Types.................................................................. 165
A.1.13. Tesla P100 SXM2 Virtual GPU Types...........................................................................168
A.1.14. Tesla P40 Virtual GPU Types.......................................................................................171
A.1.15. Tesla P6 Virtual GPU Types.........................................................................................174
A.1.16. Tesla P4 Virtual GPU Types.........................................................................................177
A.1.17. Tesla T4 Virtual GPU Types......................................................................................... 180
A.1.18. Tesla V100 SXM2 Virtual GPU Types........................................................................... 183
A.1.19. Tesla V100 SXM2 32GB Virtual GPU Types................................................................. 186
A.1.20. Tesla V100 PCIe Virtual GPU Types............................................................................ 189
A.1.21. Tesla V100 PCIe 32GB Virtual GPU Types.................................................................. 192
A.1.22. Tesla V100S PCIe 32GB Virtual GPU Types................................................................ 195
A.1.23. Tesla V100 FHHL Virtual GPU Types...........................................................................198
A.1.24. Quadro RTX 8000 Virtual GPU Types...........................................................................201
A.1.25. Quadro RTX 8000 Passive Virtual GPU Types............................................................. 205
A.1.26. Quadro RTX 6000 Virtual GPU Types...........................................................................208
A.1.27. Quadro RTX 6000 Passive Virtual GPU Types............................................................. 211
A.2. Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.......................................215

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 A.2.1. Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series vGPUs.......................................................215
A.2.2. Mixed Display Configurations for Q-Series vGPUs Based on the NVIDIA Maxwell
Architecture..........................................................................................................................215
A.2.3. Mixed Display Configurations for Q-Series vGPUs Based on Architectures after
NVIDIA Maxwell....................................................................................................................216
Appendix B. Allocation Strategies....................................................................................217
B.1. NUMA Considerations.......................................................................................................... 217
B.1.1. Obtaining Best Performance on a NUMA Platform with Citrix Hypervisor................. 218
B.1.2. Obtaining Best Performance on a NUMA Platform with VMware vSphere ESXi.........218
B.2. Maximizing Performance..................................................................................................... 218
Appendix C. Configuring x11vnc for Checking the GPU in a Linux Server...................... 220
C.1. Configuring the Xorg Server on the Linux Server...............................................................221
C.2. Installing and Configuring x11vnc on the Linux Server......................................................222
C.3. Using a VNC Client to Connect to the Linux Server........................................................... 223
Appendix D. Disabling NVIDIA Notification Icon for Citrix Published Application User
Sessions........................................................................................................................ 225
D.1. Disabling NVIDIA Notification Icon for All Users' Citrix Published Application Sessions...226
D.2. Disabling NVIDIA Notification Icon for your Citrix Published Application User Sessions...227
Appendix E. Citrix Hypervisor Basics...............................................................................228
E.1. Opening a dom0 shell.......................................................................................................... 228
E.1.1. Accessing the dom0 shell through XenCenter............................................................. 228
E.1.2. Accessing the dom0 shell through an SSH client........................................................229
E.2. Copying files to dom0...........................................................................................................229
E.2.1. Copying files by using an SCP client............................................................................ 229
E.2.2. Copying files by using a CIFS-mounted file system.....................................................230
E.3. Determining a VM’s UUID.................................................................................................... 230
E.3.1. Determining a VM’s UUID by using xe vm-list............................................................. 231
E.3.2. Determining a VM’s UUID by using XenCenter............................................................ 231
E.4. Using more than two vCPUs with Windows client VMs...................................................... 232
E.5. Pinning VMs to a specific CPU socket and cores............................................................... 232
E.6. Changing dom0 vCPU Default configuration.......................................................................233
E.6.1. Changing the number of dom0 vCPUs......................................................................... 234
E.6.2. Pinning dom0 vCPUs..................................................................................................... 234
E.7. How GPU locality is determined.......................................................................................... 234
Appendix F. Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management...........................................................235
F.1. Management objects for GPUs............................................................................................ 235
F.1.1. pgpu - Physical GPU......................................................................................................235

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 F.1.1.1. Listing the pgpu Objects Present on a Platform................................................... 235
F.1.1.2. Viewing Detailed Information About a pgpu Object............................................... 236
F.1.1.3. Viewing physical GPUs in XenCenter......................................................................236
F.1.2. vgpu-type - Virtual GPU Type........................................................................................ 237
F.1.2.1. Listing the vgpu-type Objects Present on a Platform........................................... 237
F.1.2.2. Viewing Detailed Information About a vgpu-type Object....................................... 241
F.1.3. gpu-group - collection of physical GPUs......................................................................241
F.1.3.1. Listing the gpu-group Objects Present on a Platform.......................................... 241
F.1.3.2. Viewing Detailed Information About a gpu-group Object...................................... 242
F.1.4. vgpu - Virtual GPU......................................................................................................... 242
F.2. Creating a vGPU Using xe....................................................................................................242
F.3. Controlling vGPU allocation................................................................................................. 243
F.3.1. Determining the Physical GPU on Which a Virtual GPU is Resident........................... 243
F.3.2. Controlling the vGPU types enabled on specific physical GPUs.................................. 244
F.3.2.1. Controlling vGPU types enabled on specific physical GPUs by using XenCenter...244
F.3.2.2. Controlling vGPU Types Enabled on Specific Physical GPUs by Using xe.............245
F.3.3. Creating vGPUs on Specific Physical GPUs..................................................................246
F.4. Cloning vGPU-Enabled VMs................................................................................................. 247
F.4.1. Cloning a vGPU-enabled VM by using xe......................................................................248
F.4.2. Cloning a vGPU-enabled VM by using XenCenter........................................................ 248
Appendix G. Citrix Hypervisor Performance Tuning........................................................ 249
G.1. Citrix Hypervisor Tools......................................................................................................... 249
G.2. Using Remote Graphics....................................................................................................... 249
G.2.1. Disabling Console VGA.................................................................................................. 249

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 List of Figures
Figure 1. GPU Instances Configured with NVIDIA vGPU ..................................................................4

Figure 2. NVIDIA vGPU System Architecture .................................................................................. 11

Figure 3. Time-Sliced NVIDIA vGPU Internal Architecture ............................................................ 12

Figure 4. MIG-Backed NVIDIA vGPU Internal Architecture ............................................................13

Figure 5. Example Time-Sliced vGPU Configurations on Tesla M60 .............................................16

Figure 6. Example MIG-Backed vGPU Configurations on NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40GB ...................... 17

Figure 7. NVIDIA vGPU Manager supplemental pack selected in XenCenter ............................... 23

Figure 8. Successful installation of NVIDIA vGPU Manager supplemental pack .......................... 24

Figure 9. Using Citrix XenCenter to configure a VM with a vGPU ..................................................26

Figure 10. Shared default graphics type ......................................................................................... 48

Figure 11. Host graphics settings for vGPU ................................................................................... 49

Figure 12. Shared graphics type ......................................................................................................50

Figure 13. Graphics device settings for a physical GPU ................................................................ 50

Figure 14. Shared direct graphics type ........................................................................................... 51

Figure 15. VM settings for vGPU ..................................................................................................... 53

Figure 16. Using XenCenter to configure a pass-through GPU .....................................................67

Figure 17. NVIDIA driver installation ............................................................................................... 79

Figure 18. Verifying NVIDIA driver operation using NVIDIA Control Panel ....................................80

Figure 19. Update xorg.conf settings .............................................................................................. 82

Figure 20. Verifying operation with nvidia-settings ........................................................................ 83

Figure 21. Managing vGPU licensing in NVIDIA Control Panel ......................................................86

Figure 22. Using XenCenter to remove a vGPU configuration from a VM ..................................... 90

Figure 23. Modifying GPU placement policy in XenCenter .............................................................92

Figure 24. Breadth-first allocation scheme setting for vGPU-enabled VMs ................................. 93

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Figure 25. Host graphics settings for vGPU ................................................................................... 94

Figure 26. Depth-first allocation scheme setting for vGPU-enabled VMs .................................... 95

Figure 27. Using Citrix XenCenter to monitor GPU performance ................................................117

Figure 28. Using nvidia-smi from a Windows guest VM to get total resource usage by all
applications................................................................................................................................... 118

Figure 29. Using nvidia-smi from a Windows guest VM to get resource usage by individual
applications................................................................................................................................... 119

Figure 30. Using Windows Performance Monitor to monitor GPU performance ........................120

Figure 31. Using WMI Explorer to monitor GPU performance .................................................... 121

Figure 32. Including NVIDIA logs in a Citrix Hypervisor status report ........................................ 136

Figure 33. A NUMA Server Platform ............................................................................................. 217

Figure 34. Connecting to the dom0 shell by using XenCenter .....................................................229

Figure 35. Using XenCenter to determine a VM's UUID ...............................................................232

Figure 36. Physical GPU display in XenCenter ............................................................................. 237

Figure 37. Editing a GPU’s enabled vGPU types using XenCenter .............................................. 245

Figure 38. Using a custom GPU group within XenCenter ............................................................ 247

Figure 39. Cloning a VM using XenCenter .................................................................................... 248

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Chapter 1. Introduction to NVIDIA
vGPU Software

NVIDIA vGPU software is a graphics virtualization platform that provides virtual machines
(VMs) access to NVIDIA GPU technology.

1.1. How NVIDIA vGPU Software Is Used

NVIDIA vGPU software can be used in several ways.

1.1.1. NVIDIA vGPU

NVIDIA Virtual GPU (vGPU) enables multiple virtual machines (VMs) to have simultaneous,
direct access to a single physical GPU, using the same NVIDIA graphics drivers that are
deployed on non-virtualized operating systems. By doing this, NVIDIA vGPU provides VMs with
unparalleled graphics performance, compute performance, and application compatibility,
together with the cost-effectiveness and scalability brought about by sharing a GPU among
multiple workloads.
For more information, see Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager.

1.1.2. GPU Pass-Through

In GPU pass-through mode, an entire physical GPU is directly assigned to one VM, bypassing
the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager. In this mode of operation, the GPU is accessed exclusively by
the NVIDIA driver running in the VM to which it is assigned. The GPU is not shared among VMs.
For more information, see Using GPU Pass-Through.

1.1.3. Bare-Metal Deployment

In a bare-metal deployment, you can use NVIDIA vGPU software graphics drivers with vWS and
vApps licenses to deliver remote virtual desktops and applications. If you intend to use Tesla
boards without a hypervisor for this purpose, use NVIDIA vGPU software graphics drivers, not
other NVIDIA drivers.
To use NVIDIA vGPU software drivers for a bare-metal deployment, complete these tasks:
1. Install the driver on the physical host.

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 Introduction to NVIDIA vGPU Software

For instructions, see Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver.
2. License any NVIDIA vGPU software that you are using.
For instructions, see Virtual GPU Client Licensing User Guide.
3. Configure the platform for remote access.
To use graphics features with Tesla GPUs, you must use a supported remoting solution,
for example, RemoteFX, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, VNC, or similar technology.
4. Use the display settings feature of the host OS to configure the Tesla GPU as the primary
display.
NVIDIA Tesla generally operates as a secondary device on bare-metal platforms.
5. If the system has multiple display adapters, disable display devices connected through
adapters that are not from NVIDIA.
You can use the display settings feature of the host OS or the remoting solution for this
purpose. On NVIDIA GPUs, including Tesla GPUs, a default display device is enabled.
Users can launch applications that require NVIDIA GPU technology for enhanced user
experience only after displays that are driven by NVIDIA adapters are enabled.

1.2. Primary Display Adapter

Requirements for NVIDIA vGPU
Software Deployments
The GPU that is set as the primary display adapter cannot be used for NVIDIA vGPU
deployments or GPU pass through deployments. The primary display is the boot display of
the hypervisor host, which displays SBIOS console messages and then boot of the OS or
hypervisor.
Any GPU that is being used for NVIDIA vGPU deployments or GPU pass through deployments
must be set as a secondary display adapter.

Note:
Citrix Hypervisor provides a specific setting to allow the primary display adapter to be used for
GPU pass through deployments.

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 Introduction to NVIDIA vGPU Software

Only the following GPUs are supported as the primary display adapter:

‣ Tesla M6
‣ Quadro RTX 6000
‣ Quadro RTX 8000
All other GPUs that support NVIDIA vGPU software cannot function as the primary display
adapter because they are 3D controllers, not VGA devices.
If the hypervisor host does not have an extra graphics adapter, consider installing a low-
end display adapter to be used as the primary display adapter. If necessary, ensure that the
primary display adapter is set correctly in the BIOS options of the hypervisor host.

1.3. NVIDIA vGPU Software Features

NVIDIA vGPU software includes vWS, vCS, vPC, and vApps.

1.3.1. GPU Instance Support on NVIDIA vGPU

Software
NVIDIA vGPU software supports GPU instances on GPUs that support the Multi-Instance GPU
(MIG) feature in NVIDIA vGPU and GPU pass through deployments. MIG enables a physical
GPU to be securely partitioned into multiple separate GPU instances, providing multiple users
with separate GPU resources to accelerate their applications.

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 Introduction to NVIDIA vGPU Software

In addition to providing all the benefits of MIG, NVIDIA vGPU software adds virtual machine
security and management for workloads. Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) virtual
functions enable full IOMMU protection for the virtual machines that are configured with
vGPUs.
Figure 1 shows a GPU that is split into three GPU instances of different sizes, with each
instance mapped to one vGPU. Although each GPU instance is managed by the hypervisor
host and is mapped to one vGPU, each virtual machine can further subdivide the compute
resources into smaller compute instances and run multiple containers on top of them in
parallel, even within each vGPU.

Figure 1. GPU Instances Configured with NVIDIA vGPU

Not all hypervisors support GPU instances in NVIDIA vGPU deployments. To determine if your
chosen hypervisor supports GPU instances in NVIDIA vGPU deployments, consult the release
notes for your hypervisor at NVIDIA Virtual GPU Software Documentation.
NVIDIA vGPU software supports GPU instances only with NVIDIA Virtual Compute Server and
Linux guest operating systems.
To support GPU instances with NVIDIA vGPU, a GPU must be configured with MIG mode
enabled and GPU instances must be created and configured on the physical GPU. For more
information, see Configuring a GPU for MIG-Backed vGPUs. For general information about the
MIG feature, see: NVIDIA Multi-Instance GPU User Guide.

1.3.2. API Support on NVIDIA vGPU

NVIDIA vGPU includes support for the following APIs:

‣ Open Computing Language (OpenCL™ software) 1.2

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 Introduction to NVIDIA vGPU Software

‣ OpenGL® 4.6
‣ Vulkan® 1.1
‣ DirectX 11
‣ DirectX 12 (Windows 10)
‣ Direct2D
‣ DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA)
‣ NVIDIA® CUDA® 11.2
‣ NVIDIA vGPU software SDK (remote graphics acceleration)
‣ NVIDIA RTX (on GPUs based on the NVIDIA Volta graphic architecture and later
architectures)

1.3.3. NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit and OpenCL Support on

NVIDIA vGPU Software
OpenCL and CUDA applications are supported on the following NVIDIA vGPU types:

‣ The 8Q vGPU type on Tesla M6, Tesla M10, and Tesla M60 GPUs
‣ All Q-series vGPU types on the following GPUs:
‣ Since 12.2: NVIDIA A10
‣ NVIDIA A40
‣ Since 12.2: NVIDIA RTX A5000
‣ NVIDIA RTX A6000
‣ Tesla P4
‣ Tesla P6
‣ Tesla P40
‣ Tesla P100 SXM2 16 GB
‣ Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB
‣ Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB
‣ Tesla V100 SXM2
‣ Tesla V100 SXM2 32GB
‣ Tesla V100 PCIe
‣ Tesla V100 PCIe 32GB
‣ Tesla V100S PCIe 32GB
‣ Tesla V100 FHHL
‣ Tesla T4
‣ Quadro RTX 6000

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 Introduction to NVIDIA vGPU Software

‣ Quadro RTX 6000 passive

‣ Quadro RTX 8000
‣ Quadro RTX 8000 passive
‣ All C-series vGPU types
NVIDIA vGPU supports the following NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit features if the vGPU type, physical
GPU, and the hypervisor software version support the feature:

‣ Error-correcting code (ECC) memory

‣ Peer-to-peer CUDA transfers over NVLink

Note: To determine the NVLink topology between physical GPUs in a host or vGPUs
assigned to a VM, run the following command from the host or VM:
$ nvidia-smi topo -m

‣ GPUDirect® technology remote direct memory access (RDMA)

‣ Since 12.2: Unified Memory

Note: Unified memory is disabled by default. If used, you must enable unified memory
individually for each vGPU that requires it by setting a vGPU plugin parameter. For
instructions, see Enabling Unified Memory for a vGPU.

Dynamic page retirement is supported for all vGPU types on physical GPUs that support ECC
memory, even if ECC memory is disabled on the physical GPU.
NVIDIA vGPU does not support the following NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit features:

‣ 12.0, 12.1 only: Unified Memory

‣ Development tools such as IDEs, debuggers, profilers, and utilities as listed under CUDA
Toolkit Major Components in NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit Release Notes for CUDA 11.2
‣ Tracing and profiling through the CUDA Profiling Tools Interface (CUPTI)

Note: These features are supported in GPU pass-through mode and in bare-metal
deployments.

For more information about NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit, see CUDA Toolkit 11.2 Documentation.

Note:
If you are using NVIDIA vGPU software with CUDA on Linux, avoid conflicting installation
methods by installing CUDA from a distribution-independent runfile package. Do not install
CUDA from distribution-specific RPM or Deb package.
To ensure that the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver is not overwritten when CUDA is
installed, deselect the CUDA driver when selecting the CUDA components to install.
For more information, see NVIDIA CUDA Installation Guide for Linux.

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 Introduction to NVIDIA vGPU Software

1.3.4. Additional vWS Features

In addition to the features of vPC and vApps, vWS provides the following features:

‣ Workstation-specific graphics features and accelerations

‣ Certified drivers for professional applications
‣ GPU pass through for workstation or professional 3D graphics
In pass-through mode, vWS supports multiple virtual display heads at resolutions up to 8K
and flexible virtual display resolutions based on the number of available pixels. For details,
see Display Resolutions for Physical GPUs.
‣ 10-bit color for Windows users. (HDR/10-bit color is not currently supported on Linux,
NvFBC capture is supported but deprecated.)

1.3.5. NVIDIA GPU Cloud (NGC) Containers Support

on NVIDIA vGPU Software
NVIDIA vGPU software supports NGC containers in NVIDIA vGPU and GPU pass-through
deployments on all supported hypervisors.
In NVIDIA vGPU deployments, the following vGPU types are supported only on GPUs based on
NVIDIA GPU architectures after the Maxwell architecture:

‣ All Q-series vGPU types

‣ All C-series vGPU types
In GPU pass-through deployments, all GPUs based on NVIDIA GPU architectures after the
NVIDIA Maxwell™ architecture that support NVIDIA vGPU software are supported.
The Ubuntu guest operating system is supported.
For more information about setting up NVIDIA vGPU software for use with NGC containers,
see Using NGC with NVIDIA Virtual GPU Software Setup Guide.

1.3.6. NVIDIA GPU Operator Support

NVIDIA GPU Operator simplifies the deployment of NVIDIA vGPU software on software
container platforms that are managed by the Kubernetes container orchestration engine. It
automates the installation and update of NVIDIA vGPU software graphics drivers for container
platforms running in guest VMs that are configured with NVIDIA vGPU.
NVIDIA GPU Operator uses a driver catalog published with the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics
drivers to determine automatically the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver version that is
compatible with a platform's Virtual GPU Manager.
Any drivers to be installed by NVIDIA GPU Operator must be downloaded from the NVIDIA
Licensing Portal to a local computer. Automated access to the NVIDIA Licensing Portal by
NVIDIA GPU Operator is not supported.

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 Introduction to NVIDIA vGPU Software

NVIDIA GPU Operator supports automated configuration of NVIDIA vGPU software and
provides telemetry support through DCGM Exporter running in a guest VM.
NVIDIA GPU Operator is supported only on specific combinations of hypervisor software
release, container platform, vGPU type, and guest OS release. To determine if your
configuration supports NVIDIA GPU Operator with NVIDIA vGPU deployments, consult the
release notes for your chosen hypervisor at NVIDIA Virtual GPU Software Documentation.
For more information, see NVIDIA GPU Operator Overview on the NVIDIA documentation
portal.

1.4. How this Guide Is Organized

Virtual GPU Software User Guide is organized as follows:

‣ This chapter introduces the capabilities and features of NVIDIA vGPU software.
‣ Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager provides a step-by-step guide to
installing and configuring vGPU on supported hypervisors.
‣ Using GPU Pass-Through explains how to configure a GPU for pass-through on supported
hypervisors.
‣ Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver explains how to install NVIDIA vGPU
software graphics driver on Windows and Linux operating systems.
‣ Licensing an NVIDIA vGPU explains how to license NVIDIA vGPU licensed products on
Windows and Linux operating systems.
‣ Modifying a VM's NVIDIA vGPU Configuration explains how to remove a VM’s vGPU
configuration and modify GPU assignments for vGPU-enabled VMs.
‣ Monitoring GPU Performance covers performance monitoring of physical GPUs and virtual
GPUs from the hypervisor and from within individual guest VMs.
‣ Changing Scheduling Behavior for Time-Sliced vGPUs describes the scheduling behavior
of NVIDIA vGPUs and how to change it.
‣ Troubleshooting provides guidance on troubleshooting.
‣ Virtual GPU Types Reference provides details of each vGPU available from each supported
GPU and provides examples of mixed virtual display configurations for B-series and Q-
series vGPUs.
‣ Configuring x11vnc for Checking the GPU in a Linux Server explains how to use x11vnc
to confirm that the NVIDIA GPU in a Linux server to which no display devices are directly
connected is working as expected.
‣ Disabling NVIDIA Notification Icon for Citrix Published Application User Sessions explains
how to ensure that the NVIDIA Notification Icon application does not prevent the Citrix
Published Application user session from being logged off even after the user has quit all ot
‣ Citrix Hypervisor Basics explains how to perform basic operations on Citrix Hypervisor to
install and configure NVIDIA vGPU software and optimize Citrix Hypervisor operation with
vGPU.
‣ Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management covers vGPU management on Citrix Hypervisor.

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 Introduction to NVIDIA vGPU Software

‣ Citrix Hypervisor Performance Tuning covers vGPU performance optimization on Citrix

Hypervisor.

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Chapter 2. Installing and Configuring
NVIDIA Virtual GPU
Manager

The process for installing and configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager depends on the
hypervisor that you are using. After you complete this process, you can install the display
drivers for your guest OS and license any NVIDIA vGPU software licensed products that you are
using.

2.1. About NVIDIA Virtual GPUs

2.1.1. NVIDIA vGPU Architecture
The high-level architecture of NVIDIA vGPU is illustrated in Figure 2. Under the control of the
NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager running under the hypervisor, NVIDIA physical GPUs are capable
of supporting multiple virtual GPU devices (vGPUs) that can be assigned directly to guest VMs.
Guest VMs use NVIDIA vGPUs in the same manner as a physical GPU that has been passed
through by the hypervisor: an NVIDIA driver loaded in the guest VM provides direct access
to the GPU for performance-critical fast paths, and a paravirtualized interface to the NVIDIA
Virtual GPU Manager is used for non-performant management operations.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

Figure 2. NVIDIA vGPU System Architecture

Each NVIDIA vGPU is analogous to a conventional GPU, having a fixed amount of GPU
framebuffer, and one or more virtual display outputs or “heads”. The vGPU’s framebuffer is
allocated out of the physical GPU’s framebuffer at the time the vGPU is created, and the vGPU
retains exclusive use of that framebuffer until it is destroyed.
Depending on the physical GPU, the different types of vGPU can be created on the vGPU:

‣ On all GPUs that support NVIDIA vGPU software, time-sliced vGPUs can be created.
‣ Additionally, on GPUs that support the Multi-Instance GPU (MIG) feature, MIG-backed
vGPUs can be created. The MIG feature is introduced on GPUs that are based on the
NVIDIA Ampere GPU architecture.

2.1.1.1. Time-Sliced NVIDIA vGPU Internal Architecture

A time-sliced vGPU is a vGPU that resides on a physical GPU that is not partitioned into
multiple GPU instances. All time-sliced vGPUs resident on a GPU share access to the GPU’s
engines including the graphics (3D), video decode, and video encode engines.
In a time-sliced vGPU, processes that run on the vGPU are scheduled to run in series.
Each vGPU waits while other processes run on other vGPUs. While processes are running
on a vGPU, the vGPU has exclusive use of the GPU's engines. You can change the default
scheduling behavior as explained in Changing Scheduling Behavior for Time-Sliced vGPUs.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

Figure 3. Time-Sliced NVIDIA vGPU Internal Architecture

2.1.1.2. MIG-Backed NVIDIA vGPU Internal Architecture

A MIG-backed vGPU is a vGPU that resides on a GPU instance in a MIG-capable physical GPU.
Each MIG-backed vGPU resident on a GPU has exclusive access to the GPU instance’s engines,
including the graphics (3D), and video decode engines.
In a MIG-backed vGPU, processes that run on the vGPU run in parallel with processes
running on other vGPUs on the GPU. Process run on all vGPUs resident on a physical GPU
simultaneously.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

Figure 4. MIG-Backed NVIDIA vGPU Internal Architecture

2.1.2. About Virtual GPU Types

The number of physical GPUs that a board has depends on the board. Each physical GPU can
support several different types of virtual GPU (vGPU). vGPU types have a fixed amount of frame
buffer, number of supported display heads, and maximum resolutions1. They are grouped into
different series according to the different classes of workload for which they are optimized.
Each series is identified by the last letter of the vGPU type name.
Series Optimal Workload
Q-series Virtual workstations for creative and technical professionals who require the
performance and features of Quadro technology
C-series Compute-intensive server workloads, such as artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning,
or high-performance computing (HPC)2, 3

1
NVIDIA vGPUs with less than 1 Gbyte of frame buffer support only 1 virtual display head on a Windows 10 guest OS.
2
C-series vGPU types are NVIDIA Virtual Compute Server vGPU types, which are optimized for compute-intensive workloads. As
a result, they support only a single display head and do not provide Quadro graphics acceleration.
3
The maximum number of NVIDIA Virtual Compute Server vGPUs is limited to eight vGPUs per physical GPU, irrespective of the
available hardware resources of the physical GPU.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

Series Optimal Workload

B-series Virtual desktops for business professionals and knowledge workers
A-series App streaming or session-based solutions for virtual applications users6

The number after the board type in the vGPU type name denotes the amount of frame buffer
that is allocated to a vGPU of that type. For example, a vGPU of type M60-2Q is allocated 2048
Mbytes of frame buffer on a Tesla M60 board.
Due to their differing resource requirements, the maximum number of vGPUs that can be
created simultaneously on a physical GPU varies according to the vGPU type. For example, a
Tesla M60 board can support up to 4 M60-2Q vGPUs on each of its two physical GPUs, for a
total of 8 vGPUs, but only 2 M60-4Q vGPUs, for a total of 4 vGPUs.
When enabled, the frame-rate limiter (FRL) limits the maximum frame rate in frames per
second (FPS) for a vGPU as follows:

‣ For B-series vGPUs, the maximum frame rate is 45 FPS.

‣ For Q-series, C-series, and A-series vGPUs, the maximum frame rate is 60 FPS.
By default, the FRL is enabled for all GPUs. The FRL is disabled when the vGPU scheduling
behavior is changed from the default best-effort scheduler on GPUs that support alternative
vGPU schedulers. For details, see Changing Scheduling Behavior for Time-Sliced vGPUs. On
vGPUs that use the best-effort scheduler, the FRL can be disabled as explained in the release
notes for your chosen hypervisor at NVIDIA Virtual GPU Software Documentation.

Note:
NVIDIA vGPU is a licensed product on all supported GPU boards. A software license is required
to enable all vGPU features within the guest VM. The type of license required depends on the
vGPU type.

‣ Q-series vGPU types require a vWS license.

‣ C-series vGPU types require an NVIDIA Virtual Compute Server (vCS) license but can also
be used with a vWS license.
‣ B-series vGPU types require a vPC license but can also be used with a vWS license.
‣ A-series vGPU types require a vApps license.

4
The -1B4 and -2B4 vGPU types are deprecated in this release, and may be removed in a future release. In preparation for the
possible removal of these vGPU types, use the following vGPU types, which provide equivalent functionality:

‣ Instead of -1B4 vGPU types, use -1B vGPU types.

‣ Instead of -2B4 vGPU types, use -2B vGPU types.
5
With many workloads, -1B and -1B4 vGPUs perform adequately with only 2 2560×1600 virtual displays per vGPU. If you want
to use more than 2 2560×1600 virtual displays per vGPU, use a vGPU with more frame buffer, such as a -2B or -2B4 vGPU. For
more information, see NVIDIA GRID vPC Sizing Guide (PDF).
6
A-series NVIDIA vGPUs support a single display at low resolution to be used as the console display in remote application
environments such as RDSH and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. The maximum resolution and number of virtual display
heads for the A-series NVIDIA vGPUs applies only to the console display. The maximum resolution of each RDSH or Citrix
Virtual Apps and Desktops session is determined by the remoting solution and is not restricted by the maximum resolution of
the vGPU. Similarly, the number of virtual display heads supported by each session is determined by the remoting solution and
is not restricted by the vGPU.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

For details of the virtual GPU types available from each supported GPU, see Virtual GPU Types
for Supported GPUs.

2.1.3. Virtual Display Resolutions for Q-series and

B-series vGPUs
Instead of a fixed maximum resolution per display, Q-series and B-series vGPUs support a
maximum combined resolution based on the number of available pixels, which is determined
by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small number of high resolution
displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these vGPUs.
The number of virtual displays that you can use depends on a combination of the following
factors:

‣ Virtual GPU series

‣ GPU architecture
‣ vGPU frame buffer size
‣ Display resolution

Note: You cannot use more than the maximum number of displays that a vGPU supports even
if the combined resolution of the displays is less than the number of available pixels from the
vGPU. For example, because -0Q and -0B vGPUs support a maximum of only two displays, you
cannot use four 1280×1024 displays with these vGPUs even though the combined resolution of
the displays (6220800) is less than the number of available pixels from these vGPUs (8192000).

Various factors affect the consumption of the GPU frame buffer, which can impact the user
experience. These factors include and are not limited to the number of displays, display
resolution, workload and applications deployed, remoting solution, and guest OS. The ability
of a vGPU to drive a certain combination of displays does not guarantee that enough frame
buffer remains free for all applications to run. If applications run out of frame buffer, consider
changing your setup in one of the following ways:

‣ Switching to a vGPU type with more frame buffer

‣ Using fewer displays
‣ Using lower resolution displays
The maximum number of displays per vGPU listed in Virtual GPU Types for Supported GPUs
is based on a configuration in which all displays have the same resolution. For examples of
configurations with a mixture of display resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-
Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

2.1.4. Valid Virtual GPU Configurations on a Single

GPU
Valid vGPU configurations on a single GPU depend on whether the vGPUs are time sliced or,
on GPUs that support MIG, are MIG-backed.

2.1.4.1. Valid Time-Sliced Virtual GPU Configurations on a

Single GPU
This release of NVIDIA vGPU supports only homogeneous time-sliced virtual GPUs. At any
given time, the virtual GPUs resident on a single physical GPU must be all of the same type.
However, this restriction doesn’t extend across physical GPUs on the same card. Different
physical GPUs on the same card may host different types of virtual GPU at the same time,
provided that the vGPU types on any one physical GPU are the same.
For example, a Tesla M60 card has two physical GPUs, and can support several types of virtual
GPU. Figure 5 shows the following examples of valid and invalid virtual GPU configurations on
Tesla M60:

‣ A valid configuration with M60-2Q vGPUs on GPU 0 and M60-4Q vGPUs on GPU 1
‣ A valid configuration with M60-1B vGPUs on GPU 0 and M60-2Q vGPUs on GPU 1
‣ An invalid configuration with mixed vGPU types on GPU 0

Figure 5. Example Time-Sliced vGPU Configurations on Tesla M60

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

2.1.4.2. Valid MIG-Backed Virtual GPU Configurations on a

Single GPU
This release of NVIDIA vGPU supports both homogeneous and mixed MIG-backed virtual GPUs
based on the underlying GPU instance configuration.
For example, an NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40GB card has one physical GPU, and can support several
types of virtual GPU. Figure 6 shows the following examples of valid homogeneous and mixed
MIG-backed virtual GPU configurations on NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40GB.

‣ A valid homogeneous configuration with 3 A100-2-10C vGPUs on 3 MIG.2g.10b GPU

instances
‣ A valid homogeneous configuration with 2 A100-3-20C vGPUs on 3 MIG.3g.20b GPU
instances
‣ A valid mixed configuration with 1 A100-4-20C vGPU on a MIG.4g.20b GPU instance, 1
A100-2-10C vGPU on a MIG.2.10b GPU instance, and 1 A100-1-5C vGPU on a MIG.1g.5b
instance

Figure 6. Example MIG-Backed vGPU Configurations on NVIDIA A100

PCIe 40GB

2.1.5. Guest VM Support

NVIDIA vGPU supports Windows and Linux guest VM operating systems. The supported vGPU
types depend on the guest VM OS.
For details of the supported releases of Windows and Linux, and for further information on
supported configurations, see the driver release notes for your hypervisor at NVIDIA Virtual
GPU Software Documentation.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

2.1.5.1. Windows Guest VM Support

Windows guest VMs are supported only on Q-series, B-series, and A-series NVIDIA vGPU
types. They are not supported on C-series NVIDIA vGPU types.

2.1.5.2. Linux Guest VM support

64-bit Linux guest VMs are supported only on Q-series, C-series, and B-series NVIDIA vGPU
types. They are not supported on A-series NVIDIA vGPU types.

2.2. Prerequisites for Using NVIDIA vGPU

Before proceeding, ensure that these prerequisites are met:

‣ You have a server platform that is capable of hosting your chosen hypervisor and NVIDIA
GPUs that support NVIDIA vGPU software.
‣ One or more NVIDIA GPUs that support NVIDIA vGPU software is installed in your server
platform.
‣ If you are using GPUs based on the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, the following BIOS
settings are enabled on your server platform:

‣ VT-D/IOMMU
‣ SR-IOV
‣ You have downloaded the NVIDIA vGPU software package for your chosen hypervisor,
which consists of the following software:

‣ NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for your hypervisor

‣ NVIDIA vGPU software graphics drivers for supported guest operating systems
‣ The following software is installed according to the instructions in the software vendor's
documentation:

‣ Your chosen hypervisor, for example, Citrix Hypervisor, Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM,
Red Hat Virtualization (RHV), or VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi)
‣ The software for managing your chosen hypervisor, for example, Citrix XenCenter
management GUI, or VMware vCenter Server
‣ The virtual desktop software that you will use with virtual machines (VMs) running
NVIDIA Virtual GPU, for example, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, or VMware Horizon

Note: If you are using VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), ensure that the ESXi host on
which you will configure a VM with NVIDIA vGPU is not a member of a fully automated
VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) cluster. For more information, see
Installing and Configuring the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for VMware vSphere.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

‣ A VM to be enabled with vGPU is created.

Note: All hypervisors covered in this guide support multiple vGPUs in a VM.

‣ Your chosen guest OS is installed in the VM.

For information about supported hardware and software, and any known issues for this
release of NVIDIA vGPU software, refer to the Release Notes for your chosen hypervisor:

‣ Virtual GPU Software for Citrix Hypervisor Release Notes

‣ Virtual GPU Software for Red Hat Enterprise Linux with KVM Release Notes
‣ Virtual GPU Software for VMware vSphere Release Notes

2.3. Switching the Mode of a GPU that

Supports Multiple Display Modes
Some GPUs support displayless and display-enabled modes but must be used in NVIDIA vGPU
software deployments in displayless mode.
The GPUs listed in the following table support multiple display modes. As shown in the table,
some GPUs are supplied from the factory in displayless mode but other GPUs are supplied in a
display-enabled mode.
GPU Mode as Supplied from the Factory
NVIDIA A40 Displayless
NVIDIA RTX A5000 Display enabled
NVIDIA RTX A6000 Display enabled

A GPU that is supplied from the factory in displayless mode, such as the NVIDIA A40 GPU,
might be in a display-enabled mode if its mode has previously been changed.
To change the mode of a GPU that supports multiple display modes, use the
displaymodeselector tool, which you can request from the NVIDIA Display Mode Selector
Tool page on the NVIDIA Developer website.

Note:
Only the following GPUs support the displaymodeselector tool:

‣ NVIDIA A40
‣ NVIDIA RTX A5000
‣ NVIDIA RTX A6000
Other GPUs that support NVIDIA vGPU software do not support the displaymodeselector tool
and, unless otherwise stated, do not require display mode switching.

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2.4. Switching the Mode of a Tesla M60 or

M6 GPU
Tesla M60 and M6 GPUs support compute mode and graphics mode. NVIDIA vGPU requires
GPUs that support both modes to operate in graphics mode.
Recent Tesla M60 GPUs and M6 GPUs are supplied in graphics mode. However, your GPU
might be in compute mode if it is an older Tesla M60 GPU or M6 GPU, or if its mode has
previously been changed.
To configure the mode of Tesla M60 and M6 GPUs, use the gpumodeswitch tool provided
with NVIDIA vGPU software releases. If you are unsure which mode your GPU is in, use the
gpumodeswitch tool to find out the mode.

Note:
Only Tesla M60 and M6 GPUs support the gpumodeswitch tool. Other GPUs that support
NVIDIA vGPU do not support the gpumodeswitch tool and, unless otherwise stated, do not
require mode switching.
Even in compute mode, Tesla M60 and M6 GPUs do not support NVIDIA Virtual Compute Server
vGPU types. Furthermore, vCS is not supported on any GPU on Citrix Hypervisor.

For more information, see gpumodeswitch User Guide.

2.5. Installing and Configuring the NVIDIA

Virtual GPU Manager for Citrix
Hypervisor
The following topics step you through the process of setting up a single Citrix Hypervisor VM
to use NVIDIA vGPU. After the process is complete, you can install the graphics driver for your
guest OS and license any NVIDIA vGPU software licensed products that you are using.
These setup steps assume familiarity with the Citrix Hypervisor skills covered in Citrix
Hypervisor Basics.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

2.5.1. Installing and Updating the NVIDIA Virtual

GPU Manager for Citrix Hypervisor
The NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager runs in the Citrix Hypervisor dom0 domain. The NVIDIA
Virtual GPU Manager for Citrix Hypervisor is supplied as an RPM file and as a Supplemental
Pack.

CAUTION: NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager and guest VM drivers must be compatible. If you update
vGPU Manager to a release that is incompatible with the guest VM drivers, guest VMs will boot
with vGPU disabled until their guest vGPU driver is updated to a compatible version. Consult
Virtual GPU Software for Citrix Hypervisor Release Notes for further details.

2.5.1.1. Installing the RPM package for Citrix Hypervisor

The RPM file must be copied to the Citrix Hypervisor dom0 domain prior to installation (see
Copying files to dom0).

1. Use the rpm command to install the package:

[root@xenserver ~]# rpm -iv NVIDIA-vGPU-NVIDIA-vGPU-
CitrixHypervisor-8.2-460.73.02.x86_64.rpm
Preparing packages for installation...
NVIDIA-vGPU-NVIDIA-vGPU-CitrixHypervisor-8.2-460.73.02
[root@xenserver ~]#
2. Reboot the Citrix Hypervisor platform:
[root@xenserver ~]# shutdown –r now

Broadcast message from root (pts/1) (Fri Apr 23 14:24:11 2021):

The system is going down for reboot NOW!

[root@xenserver ~]#

2.5.1.2. Updating the RPM Package for Citrix Hypervisor

If an existing NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager is already installed on the system and you want to
upgrade, follow these steps:

1. Shut down any VMs that are using NVIDIA vGPU.

2. Install the new package using the –U option to the rpm command, to upgrade from the
previously installed package:
[root@xenserver ~]# rpm -Uv NVIDIA-vGPU-NVIDIA-vGPU-
CitrixHypervisor-8.2-460.73.02.x86_64.rpm
Preparing packages for installation...
NVIDIA-vGPU-NVIDIA-vGPU-CitrixHypervisor-8.2-460.73.02
[root@xenserver ~]#

Note:
You can query the version of the current NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager package using the
rpm –q command:
[root@xenserver ~]# rpm –q NVIDIA-vGPU-NVIDIA-vGPU-
CitrixHypervisor-8.2-460.73.02
[root@xenserver ~]#

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

If an existing NVIDIA GRID package is already installed and you don’t

select the upgrade (-U) option when installing a newer GRID package, the
rpm command will return many conflict errors.
Preparing packages for installation...
file /usr/bin/nvidia-smi from install of NVIDIA-vGPU-NVIDIA-
vGPU-CitrixHypervisor-8.2-460.73.02.x86_64 conflicts with file from
package NVIDIA-vGPU-xenserver-8.2-460.32.04.x86_64
file /usr/lib/libnvidia-ml.so from install of NVIDIA-vGPU-NVIDIA-
vGPU-CitrixHypervisor-8.2-460.73.02.x86_64 conflicts with file from
package NVIDIA-vGPU-xenserver-8.2-460.32.04.x86_64
...

3. Reboot the Citrix Hypervisor platform:

[root@xenserver ~]# shutdown –r now
Broadcast message from root (pts/1) (Fri Apr 23 14:24:11 2021):

The system is going down for reboot NOW!

[root@xenserver ~]#

2.5.1.3. Installing or Updating the Supplemental Pack for

Citrix Hypervisor
XenCenter can be used to install or update Supplemental Packs on Citrix Hypervisor hosts.
The NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager supplemental pack is provided as an ISO.

1. Select Install Update from the Tools menu.

2. Click Next after going through the instructions on the Before You Start section.
3. Click Select update or supplemental pack from disk on the Select Update section and
open NVIDIA’s Citrix Hypervisor Supplemental Pack ISO.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

Figure 7. NVIDIA vGPU Manager supplemental pack selected in

XenCenter

4. Click Next on the Select Update section.

5. In the Select Servers section select all the Citrix Hypervisor hosts on which the
Supplemental Pack should be installed on and click Next.
6. Click Next on the Upload section once the Supplemental Pack has been uploaded to all the
Citrix Hypervisor hosts.
7. Click Next on the Prechecks section.
8. Click Install Update on the Update Mode section.
9. Click Finish on the Install Update section.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

Figure 8. Successful installation of NVIDIA vGPU Manager supplemental

pack

2.5.1.4. Verifying the Installation of the NVIDIA vGPU

Software for Citrix Hypervisor Package
After the Citrix Hypervisor platform has rebooted, verify the installation of the NVIDIA vGPU
software package for Citrix Hypervisor.

1. Verify that the NVIDIA vGPU software package is installed and loaded correctly by checking
for the NVIDIA kernel driver in the list of kernel loaded modules.
[root@xenserver ~]# lsmod | grep nvidia
nvidia 9522927 0
i2c_core 20294 2 nvidia,i2c_i801
[root@xenserver ~]#
2. Verify that the NVIDIA kernel driver can successfully communicate with the NVIDIA
physical GPUs in your system by running the nvidia-smi command.
The nvidia-smi command is described in more detail in NVIDIA System Management
Interface nvidia-smi.

Running the nvidia-smi command should produce a listing of the GPUs in your platform.
[root@xenserver ~]# nvidia-smi
Fri Apr 23 18:46:50 2021
+------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 460.73.02 Driver Version: 460.73.02 |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

| GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |

| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0 Tesla M60 On | 00000000:05:00.0 Off | Off |
| N/A 25C P8 24W / 150W | 13MiB / 8191MiB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 1 Tesla M60 On | 00000000:06:00.0 Off | Off |
| N/A 24C P8 24W / 150W | 13MiB / 8191MiB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 2 Tesla M60 On | 00000000:86:00.0 Off | Off |
| N/A 25C P8 25W / 150W | 13MiB / 8191MiB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 3 Tesla M60 On | 00000000:87:00.0 Off | Off |
| N/A 28C P8 24W / 150W | 13MiB / 8191MiB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: GPU Memory |
| GPU PID Type Process name Usage |
|=============================================================================|
| No running processes found |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[root@xenserver ~]#

If nvidia-smi fails to run or doesn’t produce the expected output for all the NVIDIA GPUs in
your system, see Troubleshooting for troubleshooting steps.

2.5.2. Configuring a Citrix Hypervisor VM with

Virtual GPU
To support applications and workloads that are compute or graphics intensive, you can add
multiple vGPUs to a single VM.
For details about which Citrix Hypervisor versions and NVIDIA vGPUs support the assignment
of multiple vGPUs to a VM, see Virtual GPU Software for Citrix Hypervisor Release Notes.
Citrix Hypervisor supports configuration and management of virtual GPUs using XenCenter,
or the xe command line tool that is run in a Citrix Hypervisor dom0 shell. Basic configuration
using XenCenter is described in the following sections. Command line management using xe
is described in Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management.

Note: If you are using Citrix Hypervisor 8.1 or later and need to assign plugin configuration
parameters, create vGPUs using the xe command as explained in Creating a vGPU Using xe.

1. Ensure the VM is powered off.

2. Right-click the VM in XenCenter, select Properties to open the VM’s properties, and select
the GPU property.
The available GPU types are listed in the GPU type drop-down list:

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

Figure 9. Using Citrix XenCenter to configure a VM with a vGPU

After you have configured a Citrix Hypervisor VM with a vGPU, start the VM, either from
XenCenter or by using xe vm-start in a dom0 shell. You can view the VM’s console in
XenCenter.
After the VM has booted, install the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver as explained in
Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver.

2.6. Installing the Virtual GPU Manager

Package for Linux KVM
NVIDIA vGPU software for Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) (Linux KVM) is intended
only for use with supported versions of Linux KVM hypervisors. For details about which Linux
KVM hypervisor versions are supported, see Virtual GPU Software for Generic Linux with KVM
Release Notes.

Note: If you are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, follow the instructions in Installing and
Configuring the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV.

Before installing the Virtual GPU Manager package for Linux KVM, ensure that the following
prerequisites are met:

‣ The following packages are installed on the Linux KVM server:

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

‣ The x86_64 build of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‣ Linux kernel headers
‣ The package file is copied to a directory in the file system of the Linux KVM server.
If the Nouveau driver for NVIDIA graphics cards is present, disable it before installing the
package.

1. Change to the directory on the Linux KVM server that contains the package file.
# cd package-file-directory
package-file-directory
The path to the directory that contains the package file.
2. Make the package file executable.
# chmod +x package-file-name
package-file-name
The name of the file that contains the Virtual GPU Manager package for Linux KVM, for
example NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-390.42-vgpu-kvm.run.
3. Run the package file as the root user.
# sudo sh./package-file-name
The package file should launch and display the license agreement.
4. Accept the license agreement to continue with the installation.
5. When installation has completed, select OK to exit the installer.
6. Reboot the Linux KVM server.
# systemctl reboot

2.7. Installing and Configuring the NVIDIA

Virtual GPU Manager for Red Hat
Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV
The following topics step you through the process of setting up a single Red Hat Enterprise
Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) or Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) VM to use NVIDIA
vGPU.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM and RHV use the same Virtual GPU Manager package, but are
configured with NVIDIA vGPU in different ways.
For RHV, follow this sequence of instructions:
1. Installing the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV
2. MIG-backed vGPUs only: Configuring a GPU for MIG-Backed vGPUs
3. Adding a vGPU to a Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) VM
For Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, follow this sequence of instructions:
1. Installing the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV
2. MIG-backed vGPUs only: Configuring a GPU for MIG-Backed vGPUs

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

3. Getting the BDF and Domain of a GPU on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM
4. Creating an NVIDIA vGPU on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM
5. Adding One or More vGPUs to a Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM VM
6. Setting vGPU Plugin Parameters on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM
After the process is complete, you can install the graphics driver for your guest OS and license
any NVIDIA vGPU software licensed products that you are using.

Note: If you are using a generic Linux KVM hypervisor, follow the instructions in Installing the
Virtual GPU Manager Package for Linux KVM.

2.7.1. Installing the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

for Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV
The NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM and Red Hat Virtualization
(RHV) is provided as a .rpm file.

CAUTION: NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager and guest VM drivers must be compatible. If you update
vGPU Manager to a release that is incompatible with the guest VM drivers, guest VMs will boot
with vGPU disabled until their guest vGPU driver is updated to a compatible version. Consult
Virtual GPU Software for Red Hat Enterprise Linux with KVM Release Notes for further details.

2.7.1.1. Installing the Virtual GPU Manager Package for

Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV
Before installing the RPM package for Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV, ensure that the
sshd service on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV server is configured to permit root
login. If the Nouveau driver for NVIDIA graphics cards is present, disable it before installing
the package. For instructions, see How to disable the Nouveau driver and install the Nvidia
driver in RHEL 7 (Red Hat subscription required).
Some versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM have z-stream updates that break Kernel
Application Binary Interface (kABI) compatibility with the previous kernel or the GA kernel.
For these versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, the following Virtual GPU Manager RPM
packages are supplied:

‣ A package for the GA Linux KVM kernel

‣ A package for the updated z-stream kernel
To differentiate these packages, the name of each RPM package includes the kernel version.
Ensure that you install the RPM package that is compatible with your Linux KVM kernel
version.

1. Securely copy the RPM file from the system where you downloaded the file to the Red Hat
Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV server.

‣ From a Windows system, use a secure copy client such as WinSCP.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

‣ From a Linux system, use the scp command.

2. Use secure shell (SSH) to log in as root to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV
server.
# ssh root@kvm-server
kvm-server
The host name or IP address of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV server.
3. Change to the directory on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV server to which you
copied the RPM file.
# cd rpm-file-directory
rpm-file-directory
The path to the directory to which you copied the RPM file.
4. Use the rpm command to install the package.
# rpm -iv NVIDIA-vGPU-rhel-7.5-460.73.02.x86_64.rpm
Preparing packages for installation...
NVIDIA-vGPU-rhel-7.5-460.73.02
#
5. Reboot the Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV server.
# systemctl reboot

2.7.1.2. Verifying the Installation of the NVIDIA vGPU

Software for Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV
After the Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV server has rebooted, verify the installation of
the NVIDIA vGPU software package for Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV.

1. Verify that the NVIDIA vGPU software package is installed and loaded correctly by checking
for the VFIO drivers in the list of kernel loaded modules.
# lsmod | grep vfio
nvidia_vgpu_vfio 27099 0
nvidia 12316924 1 nvidia_vgpu_vfio
vfio_mdev 12841 0
mdev 20414 2 vfio_mdev,nvidia_vgpu_vfio
vfio_iommu_type1 22342 0
vfio 32331 3 vfio_mdev,nvidia_vgpu_vfio,vfio_iommu_type1
#
2. Verify that the libvirtd service is active and running.
# service libvirtd status
3. Verify that the NVIDIA kernel driver can successfully communicate with the NVIDIA
physical GPUs in your system by running the nvidia-smi command.
The nvidia-smi command is described in more detail in NVIDIA System Management
Interface nvidia-smi.

Running the nvidia-smi command should produce a listing of the GPUs in your platform.
# nvidia-smi
Fri Apr 23 18:46:50 2021
+------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 460.73.02 Driver Version: 460.73.02 |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0 Tesla M60 On | 0000:85:00.0 Off | Off |

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

| N/A 23C P8 23W / 150W | 13MiB / 8191MiB | 0% Default |

+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 1 Tesla M60 On | 0000:86:00.0 Off | Off |
| N/A 29C P8 23W / 150W | 13MiB / 8191MiB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 2 Tesla P40 On | 0000:87:00.0 Off | Off |
| N/A 21C P8 18W / 250W | 53MiB / 24575MiB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: GPU Memory |
| GPU PID Type Process name Usage |
|=============================================================================|
| No running processes found |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
#

If nvidia-smi fails to run or doesn’t produce the expected output for all the NVIDIA GPUs in
your system, see Troubleshooting for troubleshooting steps.

2.7.2. Adding a vGPU to a Red Hat Virtualization

(RHV) VM
Ensure that the VM to which you want to add the vGPU is shut down.

1. Determine the mediated device type (mdev_type) identifiers of the vGPU types available on
the RHV host.
# vdsm-client Host hostdevListByCaps
...
"mdev": {
"nvidia-155": {
"name": "GRID M10-2B",
"available_instances": "4"
},
"nvidia-36": {
"name": "GRID M10-0Q",
"available_instances": "16"
},
...
The preceding example shows the mdev_type identifiers of the following vGPU types:

‣ For the GRID M10-2B vGPU type, the mdev_type identifier is nvidia-155.

‣ For the GRID M10-0Q vGPU type, the mdev_type identifier is nvidia-36.
2. Note the mdev_type identifier of the vGPU type that you want to add.
3. Log in to the RHV Administration Portal.
4. From the Main Navigation Menu, choose Compute > Virtual Machines > virtual-machine-
name .
virtual-machine-name
The name of the virtual machine to which you want to add the vGPU.
5. Click Edit.
6. In the Edit Virtual Machine window that opens, click Show Advanced Options and in the list
of options, select Custom Properties.
7. From the drop-down list, select mdev_type.
8. In the text field, type the mdev_type identifier of the vGPU type that you want to add and
click OK.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

After adding a vGPU to an RHV VM, start the VM.

After the VM has booted, install the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver as explained in
Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver.

2.7.3. Getting the BDF and Domain of a GPU on Red

Hat Enterprise Linux KVM
Sometimes when configuring a physical GPU for use with NVIDIA vGPU software, you must
find out which directory in the sysfs file system represents the GPU. This directory is
identified by the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU.
For more information about the directory in the sysfs file system represents a physical GPU,
see NVIDIA vGPU Information in the sysfs File System.

1. Obtain the PCI device bus/device/function (BDF) of the physical GPU.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

# lspci | grep NVIDIA

The NVIDIA GPUs listed in this example have the PCI device BDFs 06:00.0 and 07:00.0.
# lspci | grep NVIDIA
06:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM204GL [Tesla M10] (rev
a1)
07:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM204GL [Tesla M10] (rev
a1)
2. Obtain the full identifier of the GPU from its PCI device BDF.
# virsh nodedev-list --cap pci| grep transformed-bdf
transformed-bdf
The PCI device BDF of the GPU with the colon and the period replaced with
underscores, for example, 06_00_0.
This example obtains the full identifier of the GPU with the PCI device BDF 06:00.0.
# virsh nodedev-list --cap pci| grep 06_00_0
pci_0000_06_00_0
3. Obtain the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU from the full identifier of the GPU.
virsh nodedev-dumpxml full-identifier| egrep 'domain|bus|slot|function'
full-identifier
The full identifier of the GPU that you obtained in the previous step, for example,
pci_0000_06_00_0.
This example obtains the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU with the PCI device
BDF 06:00.0.
# virsh nodedev-dumpxml pci_0000_06_00_0| egrep 'domain|bus|slot|function'
<domain>0x0000</domain>
<bus>0x06</bus>
<slot>0x00</slot>
<function>0x0</function>
<address domain='0x0000' bus='0x06' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>

2.7.4. Creating an NVIDIA vGPU on Red Hat

Enterprise Linux KVM
For each vGPU that you want to create, perform this task in a Linux command shell on the Red
Hat Enterprise Linux KVM host.

Note: The mdev device file that you create to represent the vGPU does not persist when the
host is rebooted and must be re-created after the host is rebooted. If necessary, you can use
standard features of the operating system to automate the re-creation of this device file when
the host is booted, for example, by writing a custom script that is executed when the host is
rebooted.

Before you begin, ensure that you have the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU on which
you are creating the vGPU. For instructions, see Getting the BDF and Domain of a GPU on Red
Hat Enterprise Linux KVM.

1. If you are using a GPU that supports SR-IOV, such as a GPU based on the NVIDIA Ampere
architecture, enable the virtual function for the GPU in the sysfs file system.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

If your GPU does not support SR-IOV, omit this step.

Note: Before performing this step, ensure that the GPU is not being used by any other
processes, such as CUDA applications, monitoring applications, or the nvidia-smi
command.

Use only the custom script sriov-manage provided by NVIDIA vGPU software for this
purpose. Do not try to enable the virtual function for the GPU by any other means.
# /usr/lib/nvidia/sriov-manage -e slot:bus:domain.function
slot
bus
domain
function
The slot, bus, domain, and function of the GPU, without the 0x prefix.

Note: Only one mdev device file can be created on a virtual function.

This example enables the virtual function for the GPU with the slot 00, bus 06, domain
0000 function 0.
# /usr/lib/nvidia/sriov-manage -e 00:06:0000.0
2. Change to the mdev_supported_types directory for the physical GPU.
# cd /sys/class/mdev_bus/domain\:bus\:slot.function/mdev_supported_types/
domain
bus
slot
function
The domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU, without the 0x prefix.
This example changes to the mdev_supported_types directory for the GPU with the
domain 0000 and PCI device BDF 06:00.0.
# cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000\:06\:00.0/mdev_supported_types/
3. Find out which subdirectory of mdev_supported_types contains registration information
for the vGPU type that you want to create.
# grep -l "vgpu-type" nvidia-*/name
vgpu-type
The vGPU type, for example, M10-2Q.
This example shows that the registration information for the M10-2Q vGPU type is
contained in the nvidia-41 subdirectory of mdev_supported_types.
# grep -l "M10-2Q" nvidia-*/name
nvidia-41/name
4. Confirm that you can create an instance of the vGPU type on the physical GPU.
# cat subdirectory/available_instances
subdirectory
The subdirectory that you found in the previous step, for example, nvidia-41.
The number of available instances must be at least 1. If the number is 0, either an instance
of another vGPU type already exists on the physical GPU, or the maximum number of
allowed instances has already been created.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

This example shows that four more instances of the M10-2Q vGPU type can be created on
the physical GPU.
# cat nvidia-41/available_instances
4
5. Generate a correctly formatted universally unique identifier (UUID) for the vGPU.
# uuidgen
aa618089-8b16-4d01-a136-25a0f3c73123
6. Write the UUID that you obtained in the previous step to the create file in the registration
information directory for the vGPU type that you want to create.
# echo "uuid"> subdirectory/create
uuid
The UUID that you generated in the previous step, which will become the UUID of the
vGPU that you want to create.
subdirectory
The registration information directory for the vGPU type that you want to create, for
example, nvidia-41.
This example creates an instance of the M10-2Q vGPU type with the UUID
aa618089-8b16-4d01-a136-25a0f3c73123.
# echo "aa618089-8b16-4d01-a136-25a0f3c73123" > nvidia-41/create

An mdev device file for the vGPU is added is added to the parent physical device directory of
the vGPU. The vGPU is identified by its UUID.
The /sys/bus/mdev/devices/ directory contains a symbolic link to the mdev device file.
7. Confirm that the vGPU was created.
# ls -l /sys/bus/mdev/devices/
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Nov 24 13:33 aa618089-8b16-4d01-a136-25a0f3c73123 -
> ../../../devices/
pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/0000:03:00.0/0000:04:09.0/0000:06:00.0/
aa618089-8b16-4d01-a136-25a0f3c73123

2.7.5. Adding One or More vGPUs to a Red Hat

Enterprise Linux KVM VM
To support applications and workloads that are compute or graphics intensive, you can add
multiple vGPUs to a single VM.
For details about which Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM versions and NVIDIA vGPUs support the
assignment of multiple vGPUs to a VM, see Virtual GPU Software for Red Hat Enterprise Linux
with KVM Release Notes.
Ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

‣ The VM to which you want to add the vGPUs is shut down.

‣ The vGPUs that you want to add have been created as explained in Creating an NVIDIA
vGPU on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM.
You can add vGPUs to a Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM VM by using any of the following tools:

‣ The virsh command

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

‣ The QEMU command line

After adding vGPUs to a Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM VM, start the VM.
# virsh start vm-name
vm-name
The name of the VM that you added the vGPUs to.
After the VM has booted, install the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver as explained in
Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver.

2.7.5.1. Adding One or More vGPUs to a Red Hat Enterprise

Linux KVM VM by Using virsh
1. In virsh, open for editing the XML file of the VM that you want to add the vGPU to.
# virsh edit vm-name
vm-name
The name of the VM to that you want to add the vGPUs to.
2. For each vGPU that you want to add to the VM, add a device entry in the form of an
address element inside the source element to add the vGPU to the guest VM.
<device>
...
<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='mdev' model='vfio-pci'>
<source>
<address uuid='uuid'/>
</source>
</hostdev>
</device>
uuid
The UUID that was assigned to the vGPU when the vGPU was created.
This example adds a device entry for the vGPU with the UUID a618089-8b16-4d01-
a136-25a0f3c73123.
<device>
...
<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='mdev' model='vfio-pci'>
<source>
<address uuid='a618089-8b16-4d01-a136-25a0f3c73123'/>
</source>
</hostdev>
</device>

This example adds device entries for two vGPUs with the following UUIDs:

‣ c73f1fa6-489e-4834-9476-d70dabd98c40

‣ 3b356d38-854e-48be-b376-00c72c7d119c
<device>
...
<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='mdev' model='vfio-pci'>
<source>
<address uuid='c73f1fa6-489e-4834-9476-d70dabd98c40'/>
</source>
</hostdev>
<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='mdev' model='vfio-pci'>
<source>
<address uuid='3b356d38-854e-48be-b376-00c72c7d119c'/>
</source>

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

</hostdev>
</device>
3. Optional: Add a video element that contains a model element in which the type attribute
is set to none.
<video>
<model type='none'/>
</video>

Adding this video element prevents the default video device that libvirt adds from
being loaded into the VM. If you don't add this video element, you must configure the
Xorg server or your remoting solution to load only the vGPU devices you added and not the
default video device.

2.7.5.2. Adding One or More vGPUs to a Red Hat Enterprise

Linux KVM VM by Using the QEMU Command Line
Add the following options to the QEMU command line:

‣ For each vGPU that you want to add to the VM, add one -device option in the following
format:
-device vfio-pci,sysfsdev=/sys/bus/mdev/devices/vgpu-uuid
vgpu-uuid
The UUID that was assigned to the vGPU when the vGPU was created.
‣ Add a -uuid option to specify the VM as follows:
-uuid vm-uuid
vm-uuid
The UUID that was assigned to the VM when the VM was created.
This example adds the vGPU with the UUID aa618089-8b16-4d01-a136-25a0f3c73123 to
the VM with the UUID ebb10a6e-7ac9-49aa-af92-f56bb8c65893.
-device vfio-pci,sysfsdev=/sys/bus/mdev/devices/aa618089-8b16-4d01-
a136-25a0f3c73123 \
-uuid ebb10a6e-7ac9-49aa-af92-f56bb8c65893

This example adds device entries for two vGPUs with the following UUIDs:

‣ 676428a0-2445-499f-9bfd-65cd4a9bd18f

‣ 6c5954b8-5bc1-4769-b820-8099fe50aaba

The entries are added to the VM with the UUID ec5e8ee0-657c-4db6-8775-

da70e332c67e.
-device vfio-pci,sysfsdev=/sys/bus/mdev/
devices/676428a0-2445-499f-9bfd-65cd4a9bd18f \
-device vfio-pci,sysfsdev=/sys/bus/mdev/devices/6c5954b8-5bc1-4769-
b820-8099fe50aaba \
-uuid ec5e8ee0-657c-4db6-8775-da70e332c67e

2.7.6. Setting vGPU Plugin Parameters on Red Hat

Enterprise Linux KVM
Plugin parameters for a vGPU control the behavior of the vGPU, such as the frame rate limiter
(FRL) configuration in frames per second or whether console virtual network computing

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

(VNC) for the vGPU is enabled. The VM to which the vGPU is assigned is started with these
parameters. If parameters are set for multiple vGPUs assigned to the same VM, the VM is
started with the parameters assigned to each vGPU.
For each vGPU for which you want to set plugin parameters, perform this task in a Linux
command shell on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM host.

1. Change to the nvidia subdirectory of the mdev device directory that represents the vGPU.
# cd /sys/bus/mdev/devices/uuid/nvidia
uuid
The UUID of the vGPU, for example, aa618089-8b16-4d01-a136-25a0f3c73123.
2. Write the plugin parameters that you want to set to the vgpu_params file in the directory
that you changed to in the previous step.
# echo "plugin-config-params" > vgpu_params
plugin-config-params
A comma-separated list of parameter-value pairs, where each pair is of the form
parameter-name=value.
This example disables frame rate limiting and console VNC for a vGPU.
# echo "frame_rate_limiter=0, disable_vnc=1" > vgpu_params

This example enables unified memory for a vGPU.

# echo "enable_uvm=1" > vgpu_params

To clear any vGPU plugin parameters that were set previously, write a space to the
vgpu_params file for the vGPU.
# echo " " > vgpu_params

2.7.7. Deleting a vGPU on Red Hat Enterprise Linux

KVM
For each vGPU that you want to delete, perform this task in a Linux command shell on the Red
Hat Enterprise Linux KVM host.
Before you begin, ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

‣ You have the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU where the vGPU that you want to
delete resides. For instructions, see Getting the BDF and Domain of a GPU on Red Hat
Enterprise Linux KVM.
‣ The VM to which the vGPU is assigned is shut down.
1. Change to the mdev_supported_types directory for the physical GPU.
# cd /sys/class/mdev_bus/domain\:bus\:slot.function/mdev_supported_types/
domain
bus
slot
function
The domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU, without the 0x prefix.

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This example changes to the mdev_supported_types directory for the GPU with the PCI
device BDF 06:00.0.
# cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000\:06\:00.0/mdev_supported_types/
2. Change to the subdirectory of mdev_supported_types that contains registration
information for the vGPU.
# cd `find . -type d -name uuid`
uuid
The UUID of the vGPU, for example, aa618089-8b16-4d01-a136-25a0f3c73123.
3. Write the value 1 to the remove file in the registration information directory for the vGPU
that you want to delete.
# echo "1" > remove

Note: On the Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) kernel, if you try to remove a vGPU device while
its VM is running, the vGPU device might not be removed even if the remove file has been
written to successfully. To confirm that the vGPU device is removed, confirm that the UUID
of the vGPU is not found in the sysfs file system.

2.7.8. Preparing a GPU Configured for Pass-

Through for Use with vGPU
The mode in which a physical GPU is being used determines the Linux kernel module to which
the GPU is bound. If you want to switch the mode in which a GPU is being used, you must
unbind the GPU from its current kernel module and bind it to the kernel module for the new
mode. After binding the GPU to the correct kernel module, you can then configure it for vGPU.
A physical GPU that is passed through to a VM is bound to the vfio-pci kernel module. A
physical GPU that is bound to the vfio-pci kernel module can be used only for pass-through.
To enable the GPU to be used for vGPU, the GPU must be unbound from vfio-pci kernel
module and bound to the nvidia kernel module.

Before you begin, ensure that you have the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU that you
are preparing for use with vGPU. For instructions, see Getting the BDF and Domain of a GPU
on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM.

1. Determine the kernel module to which the GPU is bound by running the lspci command
with the -k option on the NVIDIA GPUs on your host.
# lspci -d 10de: -k

The Kernel driver in use: field indicates the kernel module to which the GPU is
bound.
The following example shows that the NVIDIA Tesla M60 GPU with BDF 06:00.0 is bound
to the vfio-pci kernel module and is being used for GPU pass through.

06:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM204GL [Tesla M60] (rev
a1)
Subsystem: NVIDIA Corporation Device 115e
Kernel driver in use: vfio-pci
2. Unbind the GPU from vfio-pci kernel module.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

a). Change to the sysfs directory that represents the vfio-pci kernel module.
# cd /sys/bus/pci/drivers/vfio-pci
b). Write the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU to the unbind file in this directory.
# echo domain:bus:slot.function > unbind
domain
bus
slot
function
The domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU, without a 0x prefix.
This example writes the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU with the domain
0000 and PCI device BDF 06:00.0.
# echo 0000:06:00.0 > unbind
3. Bind the GPU to the nvidia kernel module.
a). Change to the sysfs directory that contains the PCI device information for the physical
GPU.
# cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/domain\:bus\:slot.function
domain
bus
slot
function
The domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU, without a 0x prefix.
This example changes to the sysfs directory that contains the PCI device information
for the GPU with the domain 0000 and PCI device BDF 06:00.0.
# cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000\:06\:00.0
b). Write the kernel module name nvidia to the driver_override file in this directory.
# echo nvidia > driver_override
c). Change to the sysfs directory that represents the nvidia kernel module.
# cd /sys/bus/pci/drivers/nvidia
d). Write the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU to the bind file in this directory.
# echo domain:bus:slot.function > bind
domain
bus
slot
function
The domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU, without a 0x prefix.
This example writes the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU with the domain
0000 and PCI device BDF 06:00.0.
# echo 0000:06:00.0 > bind

You can now configure the GPU with vGPU as explained in Installing and Configuring the
NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM or RHV.

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2.7.9. NVIDIA vGPU Information in the sysfs File

System
Information about the NVIDIA vGPU types supported by each physical GPU in a Red Hat
Enterprise Linux KVM host is stored in the sysfs file system.
All physical GPUs on the host are registered with the mdev kernel module. Information about
the physical GPUs and the vGPU types that can be created on each physical GPU is stored in
directories and files under the /sys/class/mdev_bus/ directory.
The sysfs directory for each physical GPU is at the following locations:

‣ /sys/bus/pci/devices/

‣ /sys/class/mdev_bus/

Both directories are a symbolic link to the real directory for PCI devices in the sysfs file
system.
The organization the sysfs directory for each physical GPU is as follows:
/sys/class/mdev_bus/
|-parent-physical-device
|-mdev_supported_types
|-nvidia-vgputype-id
|-available_instances
|-create
|-description
|-device_api
|-devices
|-name

parent-physical-device
Each physical GPU on the host is represented by a subdirectory of the /sys/class/
mdev_bus/ directory.
The name of each subdirectory is as follows:
domain\:bus\:slot.function
domain, bus, slot, function are the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU, for example,
0000\:06\:00.0.
Each directory is a symbolic link to the real directory for PCI devices in the sysfs file
system. For example:
# ll /sys/class/mdev_bus/
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Dec 12 03:20 0000:05:00.0 -> ../../devices/
pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/0000:03:00.0/0000:04:08.0/0000:05:00.0
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Dec 12 03:20 0000:06:00.0 -> ../../devices/
pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/0000:03:00.0/0000:04:09.0/0000:06:00.0
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Dec 12 03:20 0000:07:00.0 -> ../../devices/
pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/0000:03:00.0/0000:04:10.0/0000:07:00.0
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Dec 12 03:20 0000:08:00.0 -> ../../devices/
pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/0000:03:00.0/0000:04:11.0/0000:08:00.0

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mdev_supported_types
A directory named mdev_supported_types is required under the sysfs directory for each
physical GPU that will be configured with NVIDIA vGPU. How this directory is created for a
GPU depends on whether the GPU supports SR-IOV.

‣ For a GPU that does not support SR-IOV, this directory is created automatically after the
Virtual GPU Manager is installed on the host and the host has been rebooted.
‣ For a GPU that supports SR-IOV, such as a GPU based on the NVIDIA Ampere
architecture, you must create this directory by enabling the virtual function for the
GPU as explained in Creating an NVIDIA vGPU on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM. The
mdev_supported_types directory itself is never visible on the physical function.

The mdev_supported_types directory contains a subdirectory for each vGPU type that the
physical GPU supports. The name of each subdirectory is nvidia-vgputype-id, where
vgputype-id is an unsigned integer serial number. For example:
# ll mdev_supported_types/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 Dec 6 01:37 nvidia-35
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 Dec 5 10:43 nvidia-36
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 Dec 5 10:43 nvidia-37
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 Dec 5 10:43 nvidia-38
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 Dec 5 10:43 nvidia-39
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 Dec 5 10:43 nvidia-40
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 Dec 5 10:43 nvidia-41
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 Dec 5 10:43 nvidia-42
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 Dec 5 10:43 nvidia-43
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 Dec 5 10:43 nvidia-44
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 Dec 5 10:43 nvidia-45
nvidia-vgputype-id
Each directory represents an individual vGPU type and contains the following files and
directories:
available_instances
This file contains the number of instances of this vGPU type that can still be created.
This file is updated any time a vGPU of this type is created on or removed from the
physical GPU.

Note: When a time-sliced vGPU is created, the content of the available_instances for
all other time-sliced vGPU types on the physical GPU is set to 0. This behavior enforces
the requirement that all time-sliced vGPUs on a physical GPU must be of the same type.
However, this requirement does not apply to MIG-backed vGPUs. Therefore, when a MIG-
backed vGPU is created, available_instances for all other MIG-backed vGPU types on
the physical GPU is not set to 0

create
This file is used for creating a vGPU instance. A vGPU instance is created by writing the
UUID of the vGPU to this file. The file is write only.
description
This file contains the following details of the vGPU type:

‣ The maximum number of virtual display heads that the vGPU type supports
‣ The frame rate limiter (FRL) configuration in frames per second
‣ The frame buffer size in Mbytes

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

‣ The maximum resolution per display head

‣ The maximum number of vGPU instances per physical GPU
For example:
# cat description
num_heads=4, frl_config=60, framebuffer=2048M, max_resolution=4096x2160,
max_instance=4
device_api
This file contains the string vfio_pci to indicate that a vGPU is a PCI device.
devices
This directory contains all the mdev devices that are created for the vGPU type. For
example:
# ll devices
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Dec 6 01:52 aa618089-8b16-4d01-a136-25a0f3c73123 -
> ../../../aa618089-8b16-4d01-a136-25a0f3c73123
name
This file contains the name of the vGPU type. For example:
# cat name
GRID M10-2Q

2.8. Installing and Configuring the NVIDIA

Virtual GPU Manager for VMware
vSphere
You can use the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for VMware vSphere to set up a VMware vSphere
VM to use NVIDIA vGPU or VMware vSGA. The vGPU Manager vSphere Installation Bundles
(VIBs) for VMware vSphere 6.5 and later provide vSGA and vGPU functionality in a single VIB.
For VMware vSphere 6.0, vSGA and vGPU functionality are provided in separate vGPU Manager
VIBs.

Note: Some servers, for example, the Dell R740, do not configure SR-IOV capability if the SR-
IOV SBIOS setting is disabled on the server. If you are using the Tesla T4 GPU with VMware
vSphere on such a server, you must ensure that the SR-IOV SBIOS setting is enabled on the
server.

NVIDIA vGPU Instructions

Note: As of VMware vSphere 7.0 Update 1, the Xorg service is no longer required for graphics
devices in NVIDIA vGPU mode. For more information, see Installing and Updating the NVIDIA
Virtual GPU Manager for vSphere.

For NVIDIA vGPU, follow this sequence of instructions:

1. Installing and Updating the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for vSphere
2. Configuring VMware vMotion with vGPU for VMware vSphere

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

3. Changing the Default Graphics Type in VMware vSphere 6.5 and Later
4. MIG-backed vGPUs only: Configuring a GPU for MIG-Backed vGPUs
5. Configuring a vSphere VM with NVIDIA vGPU
After configuring a vSphere VM to use NVIDIA vGPU, you can install the NVIDIA vGPU software
graphics driver for your guest OS and license any NVIDIA vGPU software licensed products
that you are using.

VMware vSGA Instructions

For VMware vSGA, follow this sequence of instructions:
1. Installing and Updating the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for vSphere
2. Configuring a vSphere VM with VMware vSGA
Installation of the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver for the guest OS is not required for
vSGA.

Requirements for Configuring NVIDIA vGPU in a DRS Cluster

You can configure a VM with NVIDIA vGPU on an ESXi host in a VMware Distributed Resource
Scheduler (DRS) cluster. However, you must ensure that the automation level of the cluster
supports VMs configured with NVIDIA vGPU:

‣ For any supported VMware vSphere release, set the automation level to Manual.
‣ For VMware vSphere 6.7 Update 1 or later, set the automation level to Partially Automated
or Manual.
For more information about these settings, see Edit Cluster Settings in the VMware
documentation.

2.8.1. Installing and Updating the NVIDIA Virtual

GPU Manager for vSphere
The NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager runs on the ESXi host. How the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager
package is distributed depends on the release of VMware vSphere.

‣ For all supported VMware vSphere releases, the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager package is
distributed as a software component in a ZIP archive, which you can install in one of the
following ways:

‣ By copying the software component to the ESXi host and then installing it as explained
in Installing the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager Package for vSphere
‣ By importing the software component manually as explained in Import Patches
Manually in the VMware vSphere documentation
‣ For supported releases before VMware vSphere 7.0, the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager
package is also distributed as a vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB) file, which you must copy

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

to the ESXi host and then install as explained in Installing the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager
Package for vSphere.

CAUTION: NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager and guest VM drivers must be compatible. If you update
vGPU Manager to a release that is incompatible with the guest VM drivers, guest VMs will boot
with vGPU disabled until their guest vGPU driver is updated to a compatible version. Consult
Virtual GPU Software for VMware vSphere Release Notes for further details.

2.8.1.1. Installing the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

Package for vSphere
To install the vGPU Manager package you need to access the ESXi host via the ESXi Shell or
SSH. Refer to VMware’s documentation on how to enable ESXi Shell or SSH for an ESXi host.

Note: Before proceeding with the vGPU Manager installation make sure that all VMs
are powered off and the ESXi host is placed in maintenance mode. Refer to VMware’s
documentation on how to place an ESXi host in maintenance mode.

1. Use the esxcli command to install the vGPU Manager package.

For more information about the esxcli command, see esxcli software Commands in the
VMware vSphere documentation.

‣ For a software component, run the following command:

[root@esxi:~] esxcli software vib install -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore/software-
component.zip
datastore
The name of the VMFS datastore to which you copied the software component.
software-component
The name of the file that contains the software component.
‣ For a VIB file, run the following command:
[root@esxi:~] esxcli software vib install -v directory/NVIDIA-vGPU-
VMware_ESXi_6.7_Host_Driver_460.73.02-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203.vib
Installation Result
Message: Operation finished successfully.
Reboot Required: false
VIBs Installed: NVIDIA-vGPU-
VMware_ESXi_6.7_Host_Driver_460.73.02-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203
VIBs Removed:
VIBs Skipped:
directory
The absolute path to the directory to which you copied the VIB file. You must specify
the absolute path even if the VIB file is in the current working directory.
2. Reboot the ESXi host and remove it from maintenance mode.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

2.8.1.2. Updating the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager Package

for vSphere
Update the vGPU Manager VIB package if you want to install a new version of NVIDIA Virtual
GPU Manager on a system where an existing version is already installed.

CAUTION: Do not perform this task on a system where an existing version isn't already
installed. If you perform this task on a system where an existing version isn't already installed,
the Xorg service (when required) fails to start after the NVIDIA vGPU software driver is
installed. Instead, install the vGPU Manager VIB package as explained in Installing the NVIDIA
Virtual GPU Manager Package for vSphere.

To update the vGPU Manager VIB you need to access the ESXi host via the ESXi Shell or SSH.
Refer to VMware’s documentation on how to enable ESXi Shell or SSH for an ESXi host.

Note: Before proceeding with the vGPU Manager update, make sure that all VMs are powered
off and the ESXi host is placed in maintenance mode. Refer to VMware’s documentation on how
to place an ESXi host in maintenance mode

1. Use the esxcli command to update the vGPU Manager package:

[root@esxi:~] esxcli software vib update -v directory/NVIDIA-vGPU-
VMware_ESXi_6.7_Host_Driver_460.73.02-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203.vib

Installation Result
Message: Operation finished successfully.
Reboot Required: false
VIBs Installed: NVIDIA-vGPU-
VMware_ESXi_6.7_Host_Driver_460.73.02-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203
VIBs Removed: NVIDIA-vGPU-
VMware_ESXi_6.7_Host_Driver_460.32.04-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203
VIBs Skipped:

directory is the path to the directory that contains the VIB file.
2. Reboot the ESXi host and remove it from maintenance mode.

2.8.1.3. Verifying the Installation of the NVIDIA vGPU

Software Package for vSphere
After the ESXi host has rebooted, verify the installation of the NVIDIA vGPU software package
for vSphere.

1. Verify that the NVIDIA vGPU software package installed and loaded correctly by checking
for the NVIDIA kernel driver in the list of kernel loaded modules.
[root@esxi:~] vmkload_mod -l | grep nvidia
nvidia 5 8420
2. If the NVIDIA driver is not listed in the output, check dmesg for any load-time errors
reported by the driver.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

3. Verify that the NVIDIA kernel driver can successfully communicate with the NVIDIA
physical GPUs in your system by running the nvidia-smi command.
The nvidia-smi command is described in more detail in NVIDIA System Management
Interface nvidia-smi.

Running the nvidia-smi command should produce a listing of the GPUs in your platform.
[root@esxi:~] nvidia-smi
Fri Apr 23 17:56:22 2021
+------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 460.73.02 Driver Version: 460.73.02 |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0 Tesla M60 On | 00000000:05:00.0 Off | Off |
| N/A 25C P8 24W / 150W | 13MiB / 8191MiB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 1 Tesla M60 On | 00000000:06:00.0 Off | Off |
| N/A 24C P8 24W / 150W | 13MiB / 8191MiB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 2 Tesla M60 On | 00000000:86:00.0 Off | Off |
| N/A 25C P8 25W / 150W | 13MiB / 8191MiB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 3 Tesla M60 On | 00000000:87:00.0 Off | Off |
| N/A 28C P8 24W / 150W | 13MiB / 8191MiB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: GPU Memory |
| GPU PID Type Process name Usage |
|=============================================================================|
| No running processes found |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
If nvidia-smi fails to report the expected output for all the NVIDIA GPUs in your system, see
Troubleshooting for troubleshooting steps.

2.8.2. Configuring VMware vMotion with vGPU for

VMware vSphere
NVIDIA vGPU software supports vGPU migration, which includes VMware vMotion and
suspend-resume, for VMs that are configured with vGPU. To enable VMware vMotion with
vGPU, an advanced vCenter Server setting must be enabled. However, suspend-resume for
VMs that are configured with vGPU is enabled by default.
For details about which VMware vSphere versions, NVIDIA GPUs, and guest OS releases
support vGPU migration, see Virtual GPU Software for VMware vSphere Release Notes.
Before configuring VMware vMotion with vGPU for an ESXi host, ensure that the current
NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for VMware vSphere package is installed on the host.

1. Log in to vCenter Server by using the vSphere Web Client.

2. In the Hosts and Clusters view, select the vCenter Server instance.

Note: Ensure that you select the vCenter Server instance, not the vCenter Server VM.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

3. Click the Configure tab.

4. In the Settings section, select Advanced Settings and click Edit.
5. In the Edit Advanced vCenter Server Settings window that opens, type vGPU in the search
field.
6. When the vgpu.hotmigrate.enabled setting appears, set the Enabled option and click OK.

2.8.3. Changing the Default Graphics Type in

VMware vSphere 6.5 and Later
The vGPU Manager VIBs for VMware vSphere 6.5 and later provide vSGA and vGPU
functionality in a single VIB. After this VIB is installed, the default graphics type is Shared,
which provides vSGA functionality. To enable vGPU support for VMs in VMware vSphere 6.5,
you must change the default graphics type to Shared Direct. If you do not change the default
graphics type, VMs to which a vGPU is assigned fail to start and the following error message is
displayed:

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

The amount of graphics resource available in the parent resource pool is

insufficient for the operation.

Note:

If you are using a supported version of VMware vSphere earlier than 6.5, or are configuring a
VM to use vSGA, omit this task.

Change the default graphics type before configuring vGPU. Output from the VM console in the
VMware vSphere Web Client is not available for VMs that are running vGPU.

Before changing the default graphics type, ensure that the ESXi host is running and that all
VMs on the host are powered off.

1. Log in to vCenter Server by using the vSphere Web Client.

2. In the navigation tree, select your ESXi host and click the Configure tab.
3. From the menu, choose Graphics and then click the Host Graphics tab.
4. On the Host Graphics tab, click Edit.

Figure 10. Shared default graphics type

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

5. In the Edit Host Graphics Settings dialog box that opens, select Shared Direct and click
OK.

Figure 11. Host graphics settings for vGPU

Note: In this dialog box, you can also change the allocation scheme for vGPU-enabled VMs.
For more information, see Modifying GPU Allocation Policy on VMware vSphere.

After you click OK, the default graphics type changes to Shared Direct.
6. Click the Graphics Devices tab to verify the configured type of each physical GPU on which
you want to configure vGPU.
The configured type of each physical GPU must be Shared Direct. For any physical GPU for
which the configured type is Shared, change the configured type as follows:
a). On the Graphics Devices tab, select the physical GPU and click the Edit icon.

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 Installing and Configuring NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

Figure 12. Shared graphics type

b). In the Edit Graphics Device Settings dialog box that opens, select Shared Direct and
click OK.

Figure 13. Graphics device settings for a physical GPU

7. Restart the ESXi host or stop and restart the Xorg service if necessary and nv-hostengine
on the ESXi host.
To stop and restart the Xorg service and nv-hostengine, perform these steps:
a). VMware vSphere releases before 7.0 Update 1 only: Stop the Xorg service.
As of VMware vSphere 7.0 Update 1, the Xorg service is no longer required for graphics
devices in NVIDIA vGPU mode.
b). Stop nv-hostengine.
[root@esxi:~] nv-hostengine -t
c). Wait for 1 second to allow nv-hostengine to stop.
d). Start nv-hostengine.
[root@esxi:~] nv-hostengine -d
e). VMware vSphere releases before 7.0 Update 1 only: Start the Xorg service.

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As of VMware vSphere 7.0 Update 1, the Xorg service is no longer required for graphics
devices in NVIDIA vGPU mode.
[root@esxi:~] /etc/init.d/xorg start
8. In the Graphics Devices tab of the VMware vCenter Web UI, confirm that the active type
and the configured type of each physical GPU are Shared Direct.

Figure 14. Shared direct graphics type

After changing the default graphics type, configure vGPU as explained in Configuring a
vSphere VM with NVIDIA vGPU.
See also the following topics in the VMware vSphere documentation:

‣ Log in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Web Client

‣ Configuring Host Graphics

2.8.4. Configuring a vSphere VM with NVIDIA vGPU

To support applications and workloads that are compute or graphics intensive, you can add
multiple vGPUs to a single VM.
For details about which VMware vSphere versions and NVIDIA vGPUs support the assignment
of multiple vGPUs to a VM, see Virtual GPU Software for VMware vSphere Release Notes.
If you upgraded to VMware vSphere 6.7 Update 3 from an earlier version and are using VMs
that were created with that version, change the VM compatibility to vSphere 6.7 Update 2 and
later. For details, see Virtual Machine Compatibility in the VMware documentation.
If you are adding multiple vGPUs to a single VM, perform this task for each vGPU that you want
to add to the VM.

CAUTION: Output from the VM console in the VMware vSphere Web Client is not available for
VMs that are running vGPU. Make sure that you have installed an alternate means of accessing
the VM (such as VMware Horizon or a VNC server) before you configure vGPU.

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VM console in vSphere Web Client will become active again once the vGPU parameters are
removed from the VM’s configuration.

Note: If you are configuring a VM to use VMware vSGA, omit this task.

1. Open the vCenter Web UI.

2. In the vCenter Web UI, right-click the VM and choose Edit Settings.
3. Click the Virtual Hardware tab.
4. In the New device list, select Shared PCI Device and click Add.
The PCI device field should be auto-populated with NVIDIA GRID vGPU.

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Figure 15. VM settings for vGPU

5. From the GPU Profile drop-down menu, choose the type of vGPU you want to configure
and click OK.
6. Ensure that VMs running vGPU have all their memory reserved:
a). Select Edit virtual machine settings from the vCenter Web UI.
b). Expand the Memory section and click Reserve all guest memory (All locked).

After you have configured a vSphere VM with a vGPU, start the VM. VM console in vSphere Web
Client is not supported in this vGPU release. Therefore, use VMware Horizon or VNC to access
the VM’s desktop.

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After the VM has booted, install the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver as explained in
Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver.

2.8.5. Configuring a vSphere VM with VMware vSGA

Virtual Shared Graphics Acceleration (vSGA) is a feature of VMware vSphere that enables
multiple virtual machines to share the physical GPUs on ESXi hosts.

Note: If you are configuring a VM to use NVIDIA vGPU, omit this task.

Before configuring a vSphere VM with vSGA, ensure that these prerequisites are met:

‣ VMware tools are installed on the VM.

‣ The VM is powered off.
‣ The NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager package for vSphere is installed.
1. Open the vCenter Web UI.
2. In the vCenter Web UI, right-click the VM and choose Edit Settings.
3. Click the Virtual Hardware tab.
4. In the device list, expand the Video card node and set the following options:
a). Select the Enable 3D support option.
b). Set the 3D Renderer to Hardware.
For more information, see Configure 3D Graphics and Video Cards in the VMware Horizon
documentation.
5. Start the VM.
6. After the VM has booted, verify that the VM has been configured correctly with vSGA.
a). Under the Display Adapter section of Device Manager, confirm that VMware SVGA 3D
is listed.
b). Verify that the virtual machine is using the GPU card.
# gpuvm

The output from the command is similar to the following example for a VM named
samplevm1:
Xserver unix:0, GPU maximum memory 4173824KB
pid 21859, VM samplevm1, reserved 131072KB of GPU memory.
GPU memory left 4042752KB.

The memory reserved for the VM and the GPU maximum memory depend on the GPU
installed in the host and the 3D memory allocated to the virtual machine.

Installation of the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver for the guest OS is not required for
vSGA.

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2.9. Configuring a GPU for MIG-Backed

vGPUs
To support GPU instances with NVIDIA vGPU, a GPU must be configured with MIG mode
enabled and GPU instances must be created and configured on the physical GPU. Optionally,
you can create compute instances within the GPU instances. If you don't create compute
instances within the GPU instances, they can be added later for individual vGPUs from within
the guest VMs.
Ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

‣ The NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager is installed on the hypervisor host.

‣ You have root user privileges on your hypervisor host machine.
‣ You have determined which GPU instances correspond to the vGPU types of the MIG-
backed vGPUs that you will create.
To get this information, consult the table of MIG-backed vGPUs for your GPU in Virtual
GPU Types for Supported GPUs.
‣ The GPU is not being used by any other processes, such as CUDA applications, monitoring
applications, or the nvidia-smi command.
To configure a GPU for MIG-backed vGPUs, follow these instructions:
1. Enabling MIG Mode for a GPU

Note: For VMware vSphere, only enabling MIG mode is required because VMware vSphere
creates the GPU instances and, after the VM is booted and guest driver is installed, one
compute instance is automatically created in the VM.

2. Creating GPU Instances on a MIG-Enabled GPU

3. Optional: Creating Compute Instances in a GPU instance
Create the vGPUs that you need and add them to their VMs.

2.9.1. Enabling MIG Mode for a GPU

Perform this task in your hypervisor command shell.

1. Open a command shell as the root user on your hypervisor host machine.
On all supported hypervisors, you can use secure shell (SSH) for this purpose. Individual
hypervisors may provide additional means for logging in. For details, refer to the
documentation for your hypervisor.
2. Determine whether MIG mode is enabled.
Use the nvidia-smi command for this purpose. By default, MIG mode is disabled.

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This example shows that MIG mode is disabled on GPU 0.

Note: In the output from output from nvidia-smi, the NVIDIA A100 HGX 40GB GPU is
referred to as A100-SXM4-40GB.

$ nvidia-smi -i 0
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 460.73.02 Driver Version: 460.73.02 CUDA Version: 11.2 |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
| | | MIG M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0 A100-SXM4-40GB On | 00000000:36:00.0 Off | 0 |
| N/A 29C P0 62W / 400W | 0MiB / 40537MiB | 6% Default |
| | | Disabled |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
3. If MIG mode is disabled, enable it.
$ nvidia-smi -i [gpu-ids] -mig 1
gpu-ids
A comma-separated list of GPU indexes, PCI bus IDs or UUIDs that specifies the GPUs
on which you want to enable MIG mode. If gpu-ids is omitted, MIG mode is enabled on
all GPUs on the system.
This example enables MIG mode on GPU 0.
$ nvidia-smi -i 0 -mig 1
Enabled MIG Mode for GPU 00000000:36:00.0
All done.

Note: If the GPU is being used by another process, this command fails and displays
a warning message that MIG mode for the GPU is in the pending enable state. In this
situation, stop all processes that are using the GPU and retry the command.

4. VMware vSphere ESXi only: Reboot the hypervisor host.

5. Query the GPUs on which you enabled MIG mode to confirm that MIG mode is enabled.
This example queries GPU 0 for the PCI bus ID and MIG mode in comma-separated values
(CSV) format.
$ nvidia-smi -i 0 --query-gpu=pci.bus_id,mig.mode.current --format=csv
pci.bus_id, mig.mode.current
00000000:36:00.0, Enabled

2.9.2. Creating GPU Instances on a MIG-Enabled

GPU
Note: If you are using VMware vSphere, omit this task. VMware vSphere creates the GPU
instances automatically.

Perform this task in your hypervisor command shell.

1. If necessary, open a command shell as the root user on your hypervisor host machine.
2. List the GPU instance profiles that are available on your GPU.

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You will need to specify the profiles by their IDs, not their names, when you create them.
$ nvidia-smi mig -lgip
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| GPU instance profiles: |
| GPU Name ID Instances Memory P2P SM DEC ENC |
| Free/Total GiB CE JPEG OFA |
|==========================================================================|
| 0 MIG 1g.5gb 19 7/7 4.95 No 14 0 0 |
| 1 0 0 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 0 MIG 2g.10gb 14 3/3 9.90 No 28 1 0 |
| 2 0 0 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 0 MIG 3g.20gb 9 2/2 19.79 No 42 2 0 |
| 3 0 0 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 0 MIG 4g.20gb 5 1/1 19.79 No 56 2 0 |
| 4 0 0 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 0 MIG 7g.40gb 0 1/1 39.59 No 98 5 0 |
| 7 1 1 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
3. Create the GPU instances that correspond to the vGPU types of the MIG-backed vGPUs
that you will create.
$ nvidia-smi mig -cgi gpu-instance-profile-ids
gpu-instance-profile-ids
A comma-separated list of GPU instance profile IDs that specifies the GPU instances
that you want to create.
This example creates two GPU instances of type 2g.10gb, which has profile ID 14.
$ nvidia-smi mig -cgi 14,14
Successfully created GPU instance ID 5 on GPU 2 using profile MIG 2g.10gb (ID
14)
Successfully created GPU instance ID 3 on GPU 2 using profile MIG 2g.10gb (ID
14)

2.9.3. Optional: Creating Compute Instances in a

GPU instance
Creating compute instances within GPU instances is optional. If you don't create compute
instances within the GPU instances, they can be added later for individual vGPUs from within
the guest VMs.

Note: If you are using VMware vSphere, omit this task. After the VM is booted and guest driver
is installed, one compute instance is automatically created in the VM.

Perform this task in your hypervisor command shell.

1. If necessary, open a command shell as the root user on your hypervisor host machine.
2. List the available GPU instances.
$ nvidia-smi mig -lgi
+----------------------------------------------------+
| GPU instances: |
| GPU Name Profile Instance Placement |
| ID ID Start:Size |
|====================================================|

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| 2 MIG 2g.10gb 14 3 0:2 |

+----------------------------------------------------+
| 2 MIG 2g.10gb 14 5 4:2 |
+----------------------------------------------------+
3. Create the compute instances that you need within each GPU instance.
$ nvidia-smi mig -cci -gi gpu-instance-ids
gpu-instance-ids
A comma-separated list of GPU instance IDs that specifies the GPU instances within
which you want to create the compute instances.

CAUTION: To avoid an inconsistent state between a guest VM and the hypervisor host, do
not create compute instances from the hypervisor on a GPU instance on which an active
guest VM is running. Instead, create the compute instances from within the guest VM as
explained in Modifying a MIG-Backed vGPU's Configuration.

This example creates a compute instance on each of GPU instances 3 and 5.

$ nvidia-smi mig -cci -gi 3,5
Successfully created compute instance on GPU 0 GPU instance ID 1 using profile
ID 2
Successfully created compute instance on GPU 0 GPU instance ID 2 using profile
ID 2
4. Verify that the compute instances were created within each GPU instance.
$ nvidia-smi
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MIG devices: |
+------------------+----------------------+-----------+-----------------------+
| GPU GI CI MIG | Memory-Usage | Vol| Shared |
| ID ID Dev | BAR1-Usage | SM Unc| CE ENC DEC OFA JPG|
| | | ECC| |
|==================+======================+===========+=======================|
| 2 3 0 0 | 0MiB / 9984MiB | 28 0 | 2 0 1 0 0 |
| | 0MiB / 16383MiB | | |
+------------------+----------------------+-----------+-----------------------+
| 2 5 0 1 | 0MiB / 9984MiB | 28 0 | 2 0 1 0 0 |
| | 0MiB / 16383MiB | | |
+------------------+----------------------+-----------+-----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: |
| GPU GI CI PID Type Process name GPU Memory |
| ID ID Usage |
|=============================================================================|

Note: Additional compute instances that have been created in a VM are destroyed when
the VM is shut down or rebooted. After the shutdown or reboot, only one compute instance
remains in the VM. This compute instance is created automatically after the NVIDIA vGPU
software graphics driver is installed.

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2.10. Disabling MIG Mode for One or More

GPUs
If a GPU that you want to use for time-sliced vGPUs or GPU pass through has previously been
configured for MIG-backed vGPUs, disable MIG mode on the GPU.
Ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

‣ The NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager is installed on the hypervisor host.

‣ You have root user privileges on your hypervisor host machine.
‣ The GPU is not being used by any other processes, such as CUDA applications, monitoring
applications, or the nvidia-smi command.
Perform this task in your hypervisor command shell.

1. Open a command shell as the root user on your hypervisor host machine.
You can use secure shell (SSH) for this purpose.
2. Determine whether MIG mode is disabled.
Use the nvidia-smi command for this purpose. By default, MIG mode is disabled, but
might have previously been enabled.
This example shows that MIG mode is enabled on GPU 0.

Note: In the output from output from nvidia-smi, the NVIDIA A100 HGX 40GB GPU is
referred to as A100-SXM4-40GB.

$ nvidia-smi -i 0
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 460.73.02 Driver Version: 460.73.02 CUDA Version: 11.2 |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
| | | MIG M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0 A100-SXM4-40GB Off | 00000000:36:00.0 Off | 0 |
| N/A 29C P0 62W / 400W | 0MiB / 40537MiB | 6% Default |
| | | Enabled |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
3. If MIG mode is enabled, disable it.
$ nvidia-smi -i [gpu-ids] -mig 0
gpu-ids
A comma-separated list of GPU indexes, PCI bus IDs or UUIDs that specifies the GPUs
on which you want to disable MIG mode. If gpu-ids is omitted, MIG mode is disabled on
all GPUs on the system.
This example disables MIG mode on GPU 0.
$ sudo nvidia-smi -i 0 -mig 0
Disabled MIG Mode for GPU 00000000:36:00.0
All done.
4. Confirm that MIG mode was disabled.

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Use the nvidia-smi command for this purpose.

This example shows that MIG mode is disabled on GPU 0.
$ nvidia-smi -i 0
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 460.73.02 Driver Version: 460.73.02 CUDA Version: 11.2 |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
| | | MIG M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0 A100-SXM4-40GB Off | 00000000:36:00.0 Off | 0 |
| N/A 29C P0 62W / 400W | 0MiB / 40537MiB | 6% Default |
| | | Disabled |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

2.11. Disabling and Enabling ECC Memory

Some GPUs that support NVIDIA vGPU software support error correcting code (ECC) memory
with NVIDIA vGPU. ECC memory improves data integrity by detecting and handling double-
bit errors. However, not all GPUs, vGPU types, and hypervisor software versions support ECC
memory with NVIDIA vGPU.
On GPUs that support ECC memory with NVIDIA vGPU, ECC memory is supported with C-
series and Q-series vGPUs, but not with A-series and B-series vGPUs. Although A-series and
B-series vGPUs start on physical GPUs on which ECC memory is enabled, enabling ECC with
vGPUs that do not support it might incur some costs.
On physical GPUs that do not have HBM2 memory, the amount of frame buffer that is usable
by vGPUs is reduced. All types of vGPU are affected, not just vGPUs that support ECC memory.
The effects of enabling ECC memory on a physical GPU are as follows:

‣ ECC memory is exposed as a feature on all supported vGPUs on the physical GPU.
‣ In VMs that support ECC memory, ECC memory is enabled, with the option to disable ECC
in the VM.
‣ ECC memory can be enabled or disabled for individual VMs. Enabling or disabling ECC
memory in a VM does not affect the amount of frame buffer that is usable by vGPUs.
GPUs based on the Pascal GPU architecture and later GPU architectures support ECC
memory with NVIDIA vGPU. These GPUs are supplied with ECC memory enabled.
Tesla M60 and M6 GPUs support ECC memory when used without GPU virtualization, but
NVIDIA vGPU does not support ECC memory with these GPUs. In graphics mode, these GPUs
are supplied with ECC memory disabled by default.
Some hypervisor software versions do not support ECC memory with NVIDIA vGPU.
If you are using a hypervisor software version or GPU that does not support ECC memory with
NVIDIA vGPU and ECC memory is enabled, NVIDIA vGPU fails to start. In this situation, you
must ensure that ECC memory is disabled on all GPUs if you are using NVIDIA vGPU.

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2.11.1. Disabling ECC Memory

If ECC memory is unsuitable for your workloads but is enabled on your GPUs, disable it. You
must also ensure that ECC memory is disabled on all GPUs if you are using NVIDIA vGPU with
a hypervisor software version or a GPU that does not support ECC memory with NVIDIA vGPU.
If your hypervisor software version or GPU does not support ECC memory and ECC memory is
enabled, NVIDIA vGPU fails to start.
Where to perform this task from depends on whether you are changing ECC memory settings
for a physical GPU or a vGPU.

‣ For a physical GPU, perform this task from the hypervisor host.
‣ For a vGPU, perform this task from the VM to which the vGPU is assigned.

Note: ECC memory must be enabled on the physical GPU on which the vGPUs reside.

Before you begin, ensure that NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager is installed on your hypervisor.
If you are changing ECC memory settings for a vGPU, also ensure that the NVIDIA vGPU
software graphics driver is installed in the VM to which the vGPU is assigned.

1. Use nvidia-smi to list the status of all physical GPUs or vGPUs, and check for ECC noted
as enabled.
# nvidia-smi -q

==============NVSMI LOG==============

Timestamp : Mon Apr 26 18:36:45 2021

Driver Version : 460.73.02

Attached GPUs : 1
GPU 0000:02:00.0

[...]

Ecc Mode
Current : Enabled
Pending : Enabled

[...]
2. Change the ECC status to off for each GPU for which ECC is enabled.

‣ If you want to change the ECC status to off for all GPUs on your host machine or vGPUs
assigned to the VM, run this command:
# nvidia-smi -e 0
‣ If you want to change the ECC status to off for a specific GPU or vGPU, run this
command:
# nvidia-smi -i id -e 0

id is the index of the GPU or vGPU as reported by nvidia-smi.

This example disables ECC for the GPU with index 0000:02:00.0.
# nvidia-smi -i 0000:02:00.0 -e 0
3. Reboot the host or restart the VM.

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4. Confirm that ECC is now disabled for the GPU or vGPU.

# nvidia—smi —q

==============NVSMI LOG==============

Timestamp : Mon Apr 26 18:37:53 2021

Driver Version : 460.73.02

Attached GPUs : 1
GPU 0000:02:00.0
[...]

Ecc Mode
Current : Disabled
Pending : Disabled

[...]

If you later need to enable ECC on your GPUs or vGPUs, follow the instructions in Enabling
ECC Memory.

2.11.2. Enabling ECC Memory

If ECC memory is suitable for your workloads and is supported by your hypervisor software
and GPUs, but is disabled on your GPUs or vGPUs, enable it.
Where to perform this task from depends on whether you are changing ECC memory settings
for a physical GPU or a vGPU.

‣ For a physical GPU, perform this task from the hypervisor host.
‣ For a vGPU, perform this task from the VM to which the vGPU is assigned.

Note: ECC memory must be enabled on the physical GPU on which the vGPUs reside.

Before you begin, ensure that NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager is installed on your hypervisor.
If you are changing ECC memory settings for a vGPU, also ensure that the NVIDIA vGPU
software graphics driver is installed in the VM to which the vGPU is assigned.

1. Use nvidia-smi to list the status of all physical GPUs or vGPUs, and check for ECC noted
as disabled.
# nvidia-smi -q

==============NVSMI LOG==============

Timestamp : Mon Apr 26 18:36:45 2021

Driver Version : 460.73.02

Attached GPUs : 1
GPU 0000:02:00.0

[...]

Ecc Mode
Current : Disabled
Pending : Disabled

[...]

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2. Change the ECC status to on for each GPU or vGPU for which ECC is enabled.

‣ If you want to change the ECC status to on for all GPUs on your host machine or vGPUs
assigned to the VM, run this command:
# nvidia-smi -e 1
‣ If you want to change the ECC status to on for a specific GPU or vGPU, run this
command:
# nvidia-smi -i id -e 1

id is the index of the GPU or vGPU as reported by nvidia-smi.

This example enables ECC for the GPU with index 0000:02:00.0.
# nvidia-smi -i 0000:02:00.0 -e 1
3. Reboot the host or restart the VM.
4. Confirm that ECC is now enabled for the GPU or vGPU.
# nvidia—smi —q

==============NVSMI LOG==============

Timestamp : Mon Apr 26 18:37:53 2021

Driver Version : 460.73.02

Attached GPUs : 1
GPU 0000:02:00.0
[...]

Ecc Mode
Current : Enabled
Pending : Enabled

[...]

If you later need to disable ECC on your GPUs or vGPUs, follow the instructions in Disabling
ECC Memory.

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GPU pass-through is used to directly assign an entire physical GPU to one VM, bypassing the
NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager. In this mode of operation, the GPU is accessed exclusively by the
NVIDIA driver running in the VM to which it is assigned; the GPU is not shared among VMs.
In pass-through mode, GPUs based on NVIDIA GPU architectures after the Maxwell
architecture support error-correcting code (ECC).
GPU pass-through can be used in a server platform alongside NVIDIA vGPU, with some
restrictions:

‣ A physical GPU can host NVIDIA vGPUs, or can be used for pass-through, but cannot do
both at the same time. Some hypervisors, for example VMware vSphere ESXi, require a
host reboot to change a GPU from pass-through mode to vGPU mode.
‣ A single VM cannot be configured for both vGPU and GPU pass-through at the same time.
‣ The performance of a physical GPU passed through to a VM can be monitored only from
within the VM itself. Such a GPU cannot be monitored by tools that operate through the
hypervisor, such as XenCenter or nvidia-smi (see Monitoring GPU Performance).
‣ The following BIOS settings must be enabled on your server platform:
‣ VT-D/IOMMU
‣ SR-IOV in Advanced Options
‣ All GPUs directly connected to each other through NVLink must be assigned to the same
VM.

Note: If you are configuring a GPU for pass-through, do not install the NVIDIA Virtual GPU
Manager.

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3.1. Display Resolutions for Physical

GPUs
The display resolutions supported by a physical GPU depend on the NVIDIA GPU architecture
and the NVIDIA vGPU software license that is applied to the GPU.

vWS Physical GPU Resolutions

GPUs that are licensed with a vWS license support a maximum combined resolution based on
the number of available pixels, which is determined by the NVIDIA GPU architecture. You can
choose between using a small number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower
resolution displays with these GPUs.
The following table lists the maximum number of displays per GPU at each supported display
resolution for configurations in which all displays have the same resolution.

NVIDIA GPU
Available Pixels Display Resolution Displays per GPU
Architecture
7680×4320 2
Pascal and later 66355200
5120×2880 or lower 4
5120×2880 2
Maxwell 35389440
4096×2160 or lower 4

The following table provides examples of configurations with a mixture of display resolutions.

NVIDIA GPU Available Available Pixel Maximum Sample Mixed Display

Architecture Pixels Basis Displays Configurations
Pascal and later 66355200 2 7680×4320 displays 4 1 7680×4320 display plus
2 5120×2880 displays
1 7680×4320 display plus
3 4096×2160 displays
Maxwell 35389440 4 4096×2160 displays 4 1 5120×2880 display plus
2 4096×2160 displays

Note: You cannot use more than four displays even if the combined resolution of the displays
is less than the number of available pixels from the GPU. For example, you cannot use five
4096×2160 displays with a GPU based on the NVIDIA Pascal architecture even though the
combined resolution of the displays (44236800) is less than the number of available pixels from
the GPU (66355200).

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vApps or vCS Physical GPU Resolutions

GPUs that are licensed with a vApps or a vCS license support a single display with a fixed
maximum resolution. The maximum resolution depends on the following factors:

‣ NVIDIA GPU architecture

‣ The NVIDIA vGPU Software license that is applied to the GPU
‣ The operating system that is running in the on the system to which the GPU is assigned
NVIDIA GPU Maximum Display Displays
License Operating System
Architecture Resolution per GPU
vApps Pascal or later Linux 2560×1600 1
Pascal or later Windows 1280×1024 1
Maxwell Windows and Linux 2560×1600 1
vCS Pascal or later Linux 4096×2160 1

3.2. Using GPU Pass-Through on Citrix

Hypervisor
You can configure a GPU for pass-through on Citrix Hypervisor by using XenCenter or by using
the xe command.
The following additional restrictions apply when GPU pass-through is used in a server
platform alongside NVIDIA vGPU:

‣ The performance of a physical GPU passed through to a VM cannot be monitored through

XenCenter.
‣ nvidia-smi in dom0 no longer has access to the GPU.
‣ Pass-through GPUs do not provide console output through XenCenter’s VM Console tab.
Use a remote graphics connection directly into the VM to access the VM’s OS.

3.2.1. Configuring a VM for GPU Pass Through by

Using XenCenter
Select the Pass-through whole GPU option as the GPU type in the VM’s Properties:

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 Using GPU Pass-Through

Figure 16. Using XenCenter to configure a pass-through GPU

After configuring a Citrix Hypervisor VM for GPU pass through, install the NVIDIA graphics
driver in the guest OS on the VM as explained in Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics
Driver.

3.2.2. Configuring a VM for GPU Pass Through by

Using xe
Create a vgpu object with the passthrough vGPU type:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-type-list model-name="passthrough"
uuid ( RO) : fa50b0f0-9705-6c59-689e-ea62a3d35237
vendor-name ( RO):
model-name ( RO): passthrough
framebuffer-size ( RO): 0

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-create vm-uuid=753e77a9-e10d-7679-f674-65c078abb2eb vgpu-type-

uuid=fa50b0f0-9705-6c59-689e-ea62a3d35237 gpu-group-uuid=585877ef-5a6c-66af-fc56-7bd525bdc2f6
6aa530ec-8f27-86bd-b8e4-fe4fde8f08f9
[root@xenserver ~]#

CAUTION: Do not assign pass-through GPUs using the legacy other-config:pci parameter
setting. This mechanism is not supported alongside the XenCenter UI and xe vgpu
mechanisms, and attempts to use it may lead to undefined results.

After configuring a Citrix Hypervisor VM for GPU pass through, install the NVIDIA graphics
driver in the guest OS on the VM as explained in Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics
Driver.

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3.3. Using GPU Pass-Through on Red Hat

Enterprise Linux KVM
You can configure a GPU for pass-through on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Kernel-based Virtual
Machine (KVM) by using any of the following tools:

‣ The Virtual Machine Manager (virt-manager) graphical tool

‣ The virsh command
‣ The QEMU command line
Before configuring a GPU for pass-through on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, ensure that the
following prerequisites are met:

‣ Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM is installed.

‣ A virtual disk has been created.

Note: Do not create any virtual disks in /root.

‣ A virtual machine has been created.

3.3.1. Configuring a VM for GPU Pass-Through

by Using Virtual Machine Manager (virt-
manager)
For more information about using Virtual Machine Manager, see the following topics in the
documentation for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7:

‣ Managing Guests with the Virtual Machine Manager (virt-manager)

‣ Starting virt-manager
‣ Assigning a PCI Device with virt-manager
1. Start virt-manager.
2. In the virt-manager main window, select the VM that you want to configure for pass-
through.
3. From the Edit menu, choose Virtual Machine Details.
4. In the virtual machine hardware information window that opens, click Add Hardware.
5. In the Add New Virtual Hardware dialog box that opens, in the hardware list on the left,
select PCI Host Device.
6. From the Host Device list that appears, select the GPU that you want to assign to the VM
and click Finish.

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If you want to remove a GPU from the VM to which it is assigned, in the virtual machine
hardware information window, select the GPU and click Remove.
After configuring a Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM for GPU pass through, install the NVIDIA
graphics driver in the guest OS on the VM as explained in Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software
Graphics Driver.

3.3.2. Configuring a VM for GPU Pass-Through by

Using virsh
For more information about using virsh, see the following topics in the documentation for
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7:

‣ Managing Guest Virtual Machines with virsh

‣ Assigning a PCI Device with virsh
1. Verify that the vfio-pci module is loaded.
# lsmod | grep vfio-pci
2. Obtain the PCI device bus/device/function (BDF) of the GPU that you want to assign in
pass-through mode to a VM.
# lspci | grep NVIDIA

The NVIDIA GPUs listed in this example have the PCI device BDFs 85:00.0 and 86:00.0.
# lspci | grep NVIDIA
85:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM204GL [Tesla M60] (rev
a1)
86:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM204GL [Tesla M60] (rev
a1)
3. Obtain the full identifier of the GPU from its PCI device BDF.
# virsh nodedev-list --cap pci| grep transformed-bdf
transformed-bdf
The PCI device BDF of the GPU with the colon and the period replaced with
underscores, for example, 85_00_0.
This example obtains the full identifier of the GPU with the PCI device BDF 85:00.0.
# virsh nodedev-list --cap pci| grep 85_00_0
pci_0000_85_00_0
4. Obtain the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU.
virsh nodedev-dumpxml full-identifier| egrep 'domain|bus|slot|function'
full-identifier
The full identifier of the GPU that you obtained in the previous step, for example,
pci_0000_85_00_0.
This example obtains the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU with the PCI device
BDF 85:00.0.
# virsh nodedev-dumpxml pci_0000_85_00_0| egrep 'domain|bus|slot|function'
<domain>0x0000</domain>
<bus>0x85</bus>
<slot>0x00</slot>
<function>0x0</function>
<address domain='0x0000' bus='0x85' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
5. In virsh, open for editing the XML file of the VM that you want to assign the GPU to.

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# virsh edit vm-name

vm-name
The name of the VM to that you want to assign the GPU to.
6. Add a device entry in the form of an address element inside the source element to assign
the GPU to the guest VM.
You can optionally add a second address element after the source element to set a fixed
PCI device BDF for the GPU in the guest operating system.
<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
<source>
<address domain='domain' bus='bus' slot='slot' function='function'/>
</source>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x05' function='0x0'/>
</hostdev>
domain
bus
slot
function
The domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU, which you obtained in the previous step.
This example adds a device entry for the GPU with the PCI device BDF 85:00.0 and fixes
the BDF for the GPU in the guest operating system.
<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
<source>
<address domain='0x0000' bus='0x85' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
</source>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x05' function='0x0'/>
</hostdev>
7. Start the VM that you assigned the GPU to.
# virsh start vm-name
vm-name
The name of the VM that you assigned the GPU to.

After configuring a Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM for GPU pass through, install the NVIDIA
graphics driver in the guest OS on the VM as explained in Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software
Graphics Driver.

3.3.3. Configuring a VM for GPU Pass-Through by

Using the QEMU Command Line
1. Obtain the PCI device bus/device/function (BDF) of the GPU that you want to assign in
pass-through mode to a VM.
# lspci | grep NVIDIA

The NVIDIA GPUs listed in this example have the PCI device BDFs 85:00.0 and 86:00.0.
# lspci | grep NVIDIA
85:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM204GL [Tesla M60] (rev
a1)
86:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM204GL [Tesla M60] (rev
a1)
2. Add the following option to the QEMU command line:
-device vfio-pci,host=bdf

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bdf
The PCI device BDF of the GPU that you want to assign in pass-through mode to a VM,
for example, 85:00.0.
This example assigns the GPU with the PCI device BDF 85:00.0 in pass-through mode to
a VM.
-device vfio-pci,host=85:00.0

After configuring a Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM for GPU pass through, install the NVIDIA
graphics driver in the guest OS on the VM as explained in Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software
Graphics Driver.

3.3.4. Preparing a GPU Configured for vGPU for Use

in Pass-Through Mode
The mode in which a physical GPU is being used determines the Linux kernel module to which
the GPU is bound. If you want to switch the mode in which a GPU is being used, you must
unbind the GPU from its current kernel module and bind it to the kernel module for the new
mode. After binding the GPU to the correct kernel module, you can then configure it for pass-
through.
When the Virtual GPU Manager is installed on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM host, the
physical GPUs on the host are bound to the nvidia kernel module. A physical GPU that is
bound to the nvidia kernel module can be used only for vGPU. To enable the GPU to be
passed through to a VM, the GPU must be unbound from nvidia kernel module and bound to
the vfio-pci kernel module.
Before you begin, ensure that you have the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU that
you are preparing for use in pass-through mode. For instructions, see Getting the BDF and
Domain of a GPU on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM.

1. If you are using a GPU that supports SR-IOV, such as a GPU based on the NVIDIA Ampere
architecture, disable the virtual function for the GPU in the sysfs file system.
If your GPU does not support SR-IOV, omit this step.

Note: Before performing this step, ensure that the GPU is not being used by any other
processes, such as CUDA applications, monitoring applications, or the nvidia-smi
command.

Use the custom script sriov-manage provided by NVIDIA vGPU software for this purpose.
# /usr/lib/nvidia/sriov-manage -d slot:bus:domain.function
slot
bus
domain
function
The slot, bus, domain, and function of the GPU, without the 0x prefix.
This example disables the virtual function for the GPU with the slot 00, bus 06, domain
0000 function 0.

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 Using GPU Pass-Through

# /usr/lib/nvidia/sriov-manage -d 00:06:0000.0
2. Determine the kernel module to which the GPU is bound by running the lspci command
with the -k option on the NVIDIA GPUs on your host.
# lspci -d 10de: -k

The Kernel driver in use: field indicates the kernel module to which the GPU is
bound.
The following example shows that the NVIDIA Tesla M60 GPU with BDF 06:00.0 is bound
to the nvidia kernel module and is being used for vGPU.

06:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM204GL [Tesla M60] (rev
a1)
Subsystem: NVIDIA Corporation Device 115e
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
3. To ensure that no clients are using the GPU, acquire the unbind lock of the GPU.
a). Ensure that no VM is running to which a vGPU on the physical GPU is assigned and that
no process running on the host is using that GPU.
Processes on the host that use the GPU include the nvidia-smi command and all
processes based on the NVIDIA Management Library (NVML).
b). Change to the directory in the proc file system that represents the GPU.
# cd /proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/domain\:bus\:slot.function
domain
bus
slot
function
The domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU, without a 0x prefix.
This example changes to the directory in the proc file system that represents the GPU
with the domain 0000 and PCI device BDF 06:00.0.
# cd /proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000\:06\:00.0
c). Write the value 1 to the unbindLock file in this directory.
# echo 1 > unbindLock
d). Confirm that the unbindLock file now contains the value 1.
# cat unbindLock
1

If the unbindLock file contains the value 0, the unbind lock could not be acquired
because a process or client is using the GPU.
4. Unbind the GPU from nvidia kernel module.
a). Change to the sysfs directory that represents the nvidia kernel module.
# cd /sys/bus/pci/drivers/nvidia
b). Write the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU to the unbind file in this directory.
# echo domain:bus:slot.function > unbind
domain
bus
slot
function
The domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU, without a 0x prefix.

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This example writes the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU with the domain
0000 and PCI device BDF 06:00.0.
# echo 0000:06:00.0 > unbind
5. Bind the GPU to the vfio-pci kernel module.
a). Change to the sysfs directory that contains the PCI device information for the physical
GPU.
# cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/domain\:bus\:slot.function
domain
bus
slot
function
The domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU, without a 0x prefix.
This example changes to the sysfs directory that contains the PCI device information
for the GPU with the domain 0000 and PCI device BDF 06:00.0.
# cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000\:06\:00.0
b). Write the kernel module name vfio-pci to the driver_override file in this directory.
# echo vfio-pci > driver_override
c). Change to the sysfs directory that represents the nvidia kernel module.
# cd /sys/bus/pci/drivers/vfio-pci
d). Write the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU to the bind file in this directory.
# echo domain:bus:slot.function > bind
domain
bus
slot
function
The domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU, without a 0x prefix.
This example writes the domain, bus, slot, and function of the GPU with the domain
0000 and PCI device BDF 06:00.0.
# echo 0000:06:00.0 > bind
e). Change back to the sysfs directory that contains the PCI device information for the
physical GPU.
# cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/domain\:bus\:slot.function
f). Clear the content of the driver_override file in this directory.
# echo > driver_override

You can now configure the GPU for use in pass-through mode as explained in Using GPU
Pass-Through on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM.

3.4. Using GPU Pass-Through on

Microsoft Windows Server
On supported versons of Microsoft Windows Server with Hyper-V role, you can use Discrete
Device Assignment (DDA) to enable a VM to access a GPU directly.

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3.4.1. Assigning a GPU to a VM on Microsoft

Windows Server with Hyper-V
Perform this task in Windows PowerShell. If you do not know the location path of the GPU that
you want to assign to a VM, use Device Manager to obtain it.
If you are using an actively cooled NVIDIA Quadro graphics card such as the RTX 8000 or RTX
6000, you must also pass through the audio device on the graphics card.
Ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

‣ Windows Server with Desktop Experience and the Hyper-V role are installed and
configured on your server platform, and a VM is created.
For instructions, refer to the following articles on the Microsoft technical documentation
site:

‣ Install Server with Desktop Experience

‣ Install the Hyper-V role on Windows Server
‣ Create a virtual switch for Hyper-V virtual machines
‣ Create a virtual machine in Hyper-V
‣ The guest OS is installed in the VM.
‣ The VM is powered off.
1. Obtain the location path of the GPU that you want to assign to a VM.
a). In the device manager, context-click the GPU and from the menu that pops up, choose
Properties.
b). In the Properties window that opens, click the Details tab and in the Properties drop-
down list, select Location paths.
An example location path is as follows:
PCIROOT(80)#PCI(0200)#PCI(0000)#PCI(1000)#PCI(0000)
2. If you are using an actively cooled NVIDIA Quadro graphics card, obtain the location path of
the audio device on the graphics card and disable the device.
a). In the device manager, from the View menu, choose Devices by connection.
b). Navigate to ACPI x64-based PC > Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System > PCI Express
Root Complex > PCI-to-PCI Bridge .
c). Context-click High Definition Audio Controller and from the menu that pops up,
choose Properties.
d). In the Properties window that opens, click the Details tab and in the Properties drop-
down list, select Location paths.
e). Context-click High Definition Audio Controller again and from the menu that pops up,
choose Disable device.
3. Dismount the GPU and, if present, the audio device from host to make them unavailable to
the host so that they can be used solely by the VM.

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For each device that you are dismounting, type the following command:
Dismount-VMHostAssignableDevice -LocationPath gpu-device-location -force
gpu-device-location
The location path of the GPU or the audio device that you obtained previously.
This example dismounts the GPU at the location path
PCIROOT(80)#PCI(0200)#PCI(0000)#PCI(1000)#PCI(0000).
Dismount-VMHostAssignableDevice -LocationPath
"PCIROOT(80)#PCI(0200)#PCI(0000)#PCI(1000)#PCI(0000)" -force
4. Assign the GPU and, if present, the audio device that you dismounted in the previous step
to the VM.
For each device that you are assigning, type the following command:
Add-VMAssignableDevice -LocationPath gpu-device-location -VMName vm-name
gpu-device-location
The location path of the GPU or the audio device that you dismounted in the previous
step.
vm-name
The name of the VM to which you are attaching the GPU or the audio device.

Note: You can assign a pass-through GPU and, if present, its audio device to only one
virtual machine at a time.

This example assigns the GPU at the location path

PCIROOT(80)#PCI(0200)#PCI(0000)#PCI(1000)#PCI(0000) to the VM VM1.
Add-VMAssignableDevice -LocationPath
"PCIROOT(80)#PCI(0200)#PCI(0000)#PCI(1000)#PCI(0000)" -VMName VM1
5. Power on the VM.
The guest OS should now be able to use the GPU and, if present, the audio device.

After assigning a GPU to a VM, install the NVIDIA graphics driver in the guest OS on the VM as
explained in Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver.

3.4.2. Returning a GPU to the Host OS from a VM on

Windows Server with Hyper-V
Perform this task in the Windows PowerShell.
If you are using an actively cooled NVIDIA Quadro graphics card such as the RTX 8000 or RTX
6000, you must also return the audio device on the graphics card.

1. List the GPUs and, if present, the audio devices that are currently assigned to the virtual
machine (VM).
Get-VMAssignableDevice -VMName vm-name
vm-name
The name of the VM whose assigned GPUs and audio devices you want to list.
2. Shut down the VM to which the GPU and any audio devices are assigned.
3. Remove the GPU and, if present, the audio device from the VM to which they are assigned.

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For each device that you are removing, type the following command:
Remove-VMAssignableDevice –LocationPath gpu-device-location -VMName vm-name
gpu-device-location
The location path of the GPU or the audio device that you are removing, which you
obtained previously.
vm-name
The name of the VM from which you are removing the GPU or the audio device.
This example removes the GPU at the location path
PCIROOT(80)#PCI(0200)#PCI(0000)#PCI(1000)#PCI(0000) from the VM VM1.
Remove-VMAssignableDevice –LocationPath
"PCIROOT(80)#PCI(0200)#PCI(0000)#PCI(1000)#PCI(0000)" -VMName VM1
After the GPU and, if present, its audio device are removed from the VM, they are
unavailable to the host operating system (OS) until you remount them on the host OS.
4. Remount the GPU and, if present, its audio device on the host OS.
For each device that you are remounting, type the following command:
Mount-VMHostAssignableDevice –LocationPath gpu-device-location
gpu-device-location
The location path of the GPU or the audio device that you are remounting, which you
specified in the previous step to remove the GPU or the audio device from the VM.
This example remounts the GPU at the location path
PCIROOT(80)#PCI(0200)#PCI(0000)#PCI(1000)#PCI(0000) on the host OS.
Mount-VMHostAssignableDevice -LocationPath
"PCIROOT(80)#PCI(0200)#PCI(0000)#PCI(1000)#PCI(0000)"
The host OS should now be able to use the GPU and, if present, its audio device.

3.5. Using GPU Pass-Through on VMware

vSphere
On VMware vSphere, you can use Virtual Dedicated Graphics Acceleration (vDGA) to enable
a VM to access a GPU directly. vDGA is a feature of VMware vSphere that dedicates a single
physical GPU on an ESXi host to a single virtual machine.
Before configuring a vSphere VM with vDGA, ensure that these prerequisites are met

‣ The VM and the ESXi host are configured as explained in Preparing for vDGA Capabilities in
the VMware Horizon documentation.
‣ The VM is powered off.
1. Open the vCenter Web UI.
2. In the vCenter Web UI, right-click the ESXi host and choose Settings.
3. From the Hardware menu, choose PCI Devices and click the Edit icon.
4. Select all NVIDIA GPUs and click OK.
5. Reboot the ESXi host.
6. After the ESXi host has booted, right-click the VM and choose Edit Settings.

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7. From the New Device menu, choose PCI Device and click Add.
8. On the page that opens, from the New Device drop-down list, select the GPU.
9. Click Reserve all memory and click OK.
10.Start the VM.

For more information about vDGA, see the following topics in the VMware Horizon
documentation:

‣ Configuring 3D Rendering for Desktops

‣ Configure RHEL 6 for vDGA
After configuring a vSphere VM with vDGA, install the NVIDIA graphics driver in the guest OS
on the VM as explained in Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver.

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Chapter 4. Installing the NVIDIA vGPU
Software Graphics Driver

The process for installing the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver depends on the OS that
you are using. However, for any OS, the process for installing the driver is the same in a VM
configured with vGPU, in a VM that is running pass-through GPU, or on a physical host in a
bare-metal deployment.
After you install the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver, you can license any NVIDIA vGPU
software licensed products that you are using.

4.1. Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software

Graphics Driver on Windows
Installation in a VM: After you create a Windows VM on the hypervisor and boot the VM, the
VM should boot to a standard Windows desktop in VGA mode at 800×600 resolution. You can
use the Windows screen resolution control panel to increase the resolution to other standard
resolutions, but to fully enable GPU operation, the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver
must be installed. Windows guest VMs are supported only on Q-series, B-series, and A-series
NVIDIA vGPU types. They are not supported on C-series NVIDIA vGPU types.
Installation on bare metal: When the physical host is booted before the NVIDIA vGPU software
graphics driver is installed, boot and the primary display are handled by an on-board graphics
adapter. To install the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver, access the Windows desktop on
the host by using a display connected through the on-board graphics adapter.
The procedure for installing the driver is the same in a VM and on bare metal.

1. Copy the NVIDIA Windows driver package to the guest VM or physical host where you are
installing the driver.
2. Execute the package to unpack and run the driver installer.

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 Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver

Figure 17. NVIDIA driver installation

3. Click through the license agreement.

4. Select Express Installation and click NEXT.
After the driver installation is complete, the installer may prompt you to restart the
platform.
5. If prompted to restart the platform, do one of the following:

‣ Select Restart Now to reboot the VM or physical host.

‣ Exit the installer and reboot the VM or physical host when you are ready.
After the VM or physical host restarts, it boots to a Windows desktop.
6. Verify that the NVIDIA driver is running.
a). Right-click on the desktop.
b). From the menu that opens, choose NVIDIA Control Panel.
c). In the NVIDIA Control Panel, from the Help menu, choose System Information.
NVIDIA Control Panel reports the vGPU or physical GPU that is being used, its
capabilities, and the NVIDIA driver version that is loaded.

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 Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver

Figure 18. Verifying NVIDIA driver operation using NVIDIA Control

Panel

Installation in a VM: After you install the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver, you can
license any NVIDIA vGPU software licensed products that you are using. For instructions, refer
to Virtual GPU Client Licensing User Guide.
Installation on bare metal: After you install the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver,
complete the bare-metal deployment as explained in Bare-Metal Deployment.

4.2. Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software

Graphics Driver on Linux
Installation in a VM: After you create a Linux VM on the hypervisor and boot the VM, install the
NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver in the VM to fully enable GPU operation. 64-bit Linux
guest VMs are supported only on Q-series, C-series, and B-series NVIDIA vGPU types. They
are not supported on A-series NVIDIA vGPU types.
Installation on bare metal: When the physical host is booted before the NVIDIA vGPU software
graphics driver is installed, the vesa Xorg driver starts the X server. If a primary display device
is connected to the host, use the device to access the desktop. Otherwise, use secure shell
(SSH) to log in to the host from a remote host. If the Nouveau driver for NVIDIA graphics cards
is present, disable it before installing the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver.
The procedure for installing the driver is the same in a VM and on bare metal.
Installation of the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver for Linux requires:

‣ Compiler toolchain

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 Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver

‣ Kernel headers
If you are using a Linux OS for which the Wayland display server protocol is enabled by default,
disable it as explained in Disabling the Wayland Display Server Protocol for Red Hat Enterprise
Linux.

1. Copy the NVIDIA vGPU software Linux driver package, for example NVIDIA-
Linux_x86_64-460.73.01-grid.run, to the guest VM or physical host where you are
installing the driver.
2. Before attempting to run the driver installer, exit the X server and terminate all OpenGL
applications.

‣ On Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS systems, exit the X server by transitioning to
runlevel 3:
[nvidia@localhost ~]$ sudo init 3
‣ On Ubuntu platforms, do the following:
a). Use CTRL-ALT-F1 to switch to a console login prompt.
b). Log in and shut down the display manager:
[nvidia@localhost ~]$ sudo service lightdm stop
3. From a console shell, run the driver installer as the root user.
sudo sh ./NVIDIA-Linux_x86_64-352.47-grid.run
In some instances the installer may fail to detect the installed kernel headers and sources.
In this situation, re-run the installer, specifying the kernel source path with the --kernel-
source-path option:
sudo sh ./NVIDIA-Linux_x86_64-352.47-grid.run \
–kernel-source-path=/usr/src/kernels/3.10.0-229.11.1.el7.x86_64
4. When prompted, accept the option to update the X configuration file (xorg.conf).

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 Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver

Figure 19. Update xorg.conf settings

5. Once installation has completed, select OK to exit the installer.

6. Verify that the NVIDIA driver is operational.
a). Reboot the system and log in.
b). Run nvidia-settings.
[nvidia@localhost ~]$ nvidia-settings
The NVIDIA X Server Settings dialog box opens to show that the NVIDIA driver is
operational.

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 Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver

Figure 20. Verifying operation with nvidia-settings

Installation in a VM: After you install the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver, you can
license any NVIDIA vGPU software licensed products that you are using. For instructions, refer
to Virtual GPU Client Licensing User Guide.
Installation on bare metal: After you install the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver,
complete the bare-metal deployment as explained in Bare-Metal Deployment.

4.3. Disabling the Wayland Display Server

Protocol for Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 8.0, the Wayland display server protocol is
used by default on supported GPU and graphics driver configurations. However, the NVIDIA
vGPU software graphics driver for Linux requires the X Window System. Before installing the
driver, you must disable the Wayland display server protocol to revert to the X Window System.
Perform this task from the host or guest VM that is running Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop.
This task requires administrative access.

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 Installing the NVIDIA vGPU Software Graphics Driver

1. In a plain text editor, edit the file /etc/gdm/custom.conf and remove the comment from
the option WaylandEnable=false.
2. Save your changes to /etc/gdm/custom.conf.
3. Reboot the host or guest VM.

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Chapter 5. Licensing an NVIDIA vGPU

NVIDIA vGPU is a licensed product. When booted on a supported GPU, a vGPU initially
operates at full capability but its performance is degraded over time if the VM fails to obtain
a license. If the performance of a vGPU has been degraded, the full capability of the vGPU
is restored when a license is acquired. For information about how the performance of an
unlicensed vGPU is degraded, see Virtual GPU Client Licensing User Guide.
After you license NVIDIA vGPU, the VM that is set up to use NVIDIA vGPU is capable of running
the full range of DirectX and OpenGL graphics applications.
If licensing is configured, the virtual machine (VM) obtains a license from the license server
when a vGPU is booted on these GPUs. The VM retains the license until it is shut down. It then
releases the license back to the license server. Licensing settings persist across reboots and
need only be modified if the license server address changes, or the VM is switched to running
GPU pass through.

Note: For complete information about configuring and using NVIDIA vGPU software licensed
features, including vGPU, refer to Virtual GPU Client Licensing User Guide.

5.1. Licensing an NVIDIA vGPU on

Windows
Perform this task from the guest VM to which the vGPU is assigned.
The NVIDIA Control Panel tool that you use to perform this task detects that a vGPU is
assigned to the VM and, therefore, provides no options for selecting the license type. After
you license the vGPU, NVIDIA vGPU software automatically selects the correct type of license
based on the vGPU type.

1. Open NVIDIA Control Panel:

‣ Right-click on the Windows desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel from the menu.
‣ Open Windows Control Panel and double-click the NVIDIA Control Panel icon.

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 Licensing an NVIDIA vGPU

2. In NVIDIA Control Panel, select the Manage License task in the Licensing section of the
navigation pane.

Note: If the Licensing section and Manage License task are not displayed in NVIDIA Control
Panel, the system has been configured to hide licensing controls in NVIDIA Control Panel.
For information about registry settings, see Virtual GPU Client Licensing User Guide.

The Manage License task pane shows that NVIDIA vGPU is currently unlicensed.

Figure 21. Managing vGPU licensing in NVIDIA Control Panel

3. In the Primary License Server field, enter the address of your primary NVIDIA vGPU
software License Server.
The address can be a fully-qualified domain name such as gridlicense1.example.com,
or an IP address such as 10.31.20.45.
If you have only one license server configured, enter its address in this field.
4. Leave the Port Number field under the Primary License Server field unset.
The port defaults to 7070, which is the default port number used by NVIDIA vGPU software
License Server.
5. In the Secondary License Server field, enter the address of your secondary NVIDIA vGPU
software License Server.

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 Licensing an NVIDIA vGPU

If you have only one license server configured, leave this field unset.
The address can be a fully-qualified domain name such as gridlicense2.example.com,
or an IP address such as 10.31.20.46.
6. Leave the Port Number field under the Secondary License Server field unset.
The port defaults to 7070, which is the default port number used by NVIDIA vGPU software
License Server.
7. Click Apply to assign the settings.
The system requests the appropriate license for the current vGPU from the configured
license server.

The vGPU within the VM should now operate at full capability without any performance
degradation over time for as long as the vGPU is licensed.
If the system fails to obtain a license, see Virtual GPU Client Licensing User Guide for guidance
on troubleshooting.

5.2. Licensing an NVIDIA vGPU on Linux

Perform this task from the guest VM to which the vGPU is assigned.
The NVIDIA X Server Settings tool that you use to perform this task detects that a vGPU is
assigned to the VM and, therefore, provides no options for selecting the license type. After
you license the vGPU, NVIDIA vGPU software automatically selects the correct type of license
based on the vGPU type.
Ensure that the Manage License option is enabled as explained in Virtual GPU Client Licensing
User Guide.

Note: Do not enable the Manage License option with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8 and 6.9 or
CentOS 6.8 and 6.9. To prevent a segmentation fault in DBus code from causing the nvidia-
gridd service from exiting, the GUI for licensing must be disabled with these OS versions.

1. Start NVIDIA X Server Settings by using the method for launching applications provided by
your Linux distribution.
For example, on Ubuntu Desktop, open the Dash, search for NVIDIA X Server Settings,
and click the NVIDIA X Server Settings icon.
2. In the NVIDIA X Server Settings window that opens, click Manage GRID License.
The License Edition section of the NVIDIA X Server Settings window shows that NVIDIA
vGPU is currently unlicensed.
3. In the Primary Server field, enter the address of your primary NVIDIA vGPU software
License Server.
The address can be a fully-qualified domain name such as gridlicense1.example.com,
or an IP address such as 10.31.20.45.
If you have only one license server configured, enter its address in this field.
4. Leave the Port Number field under the Primary Server field unset.

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 Licensing an NVIDIA vGPU

The port defaults to 7070, which is the default port number used by NVIDIA vGPU software
License Server.
5. In the Secondary Server field, enter the address of your secondary NVIDIA vGPU software
License Server.
If you have only one license server configured, leave this field unset.
The address can be a fully-qualified domain name such as gridlicense2.example.com,
or an IP address such as 10.31.20.46.
6. Leave the Port Number field under the Secondary Server field unset.
The port defaults to 7070, which is the default port number used by NVIDIA vGPU software
License Server.
7. Click Apply to assign the settings.
The system requests the appropriate license for the current vGPU from the configured
license server.

The vGPU within the VM should now operate at full capability without any performance
degradation over time for as long as the vGPU is licensed.
If the system fails to obtain a license, see Virtual GPU Client Licensing User Guide for guidance
on troubleshooting.

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Chapter 6. Modifying a VM's NVIDIA
vGPU Configuration

You can modify a VM's NVIDIA vGPU configuration by removing the NVIDIA vGPU configuration
from a VM or by modifying GPU allocation policy.

6.1. Removing a VM’s NVIDIA vGPU

Configuration
Remove a VM’s NVIDIA vGPU configuration when you no longer require the VM to use a virtual
GPU.

6.1.1. Removing a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

VM’s vGPU configuration
You can remove a virtual GPU assignment from a VM, such that it no longer uses a virtual
GPU, by using either XenCenter or the xe command.

Note: The VM must be in the powered-off state in order for its vGPU configuration to be
modified or removed.

6.1.1.1. Removing a VM’s vGPU configuration by using

XenCenter
1. Set the GPU type to None in the VM’s GPU Properties, as shown in Figure 22.

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 Modifying a VM's NVIDIA vGPU Configuration

Figure 22. Using XenCenter to remove a vGPU configuration from a VM

2. Click OK.

6.1.1.2. Removing a VM’s vGPU configuration by using xe

1. Use vgpu-list to discover the vGPU object UUID associated with a given VM:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-list vm-uuid=e71afda4-53f4-3a1b-6c92-a364a7f619c2
uuid ( RO) : c1c7c43d-4c99-af76-5051-119f1c2b4188
vm-uuid ( RO): e71afda4-53f4-3a1b-6c92-a364a7f619c2
gpu-group-uuid ( RO): d53526a9-3656-5c88-890b-5b24144c3d96
2. Use vgpu-destroy to delete the virtual GPU object associated with the VM:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-destroy uuid=c1c7c43d-4c99-af76-5051-119f1c2b4188
[root@xenserver ~]#

6.1.2. Removing a vSphere VM’s vGPU

Configuration
To remove a vSphere vGPU configuration from a VM:

1. Select Edit settings after right-clicking on the VM in the vCenter Web UI.
2. Select the Virtual Hardware tab.

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 Modifying a VM's NVIDIA vGPU Configuration

3. Mouse over the PCI Device entry showing NVIDIA GRID vGPU and click on the (X) icon to
mark the device for removal.
4. Click OK to remove the device and update the VM settings.

6.2. Modifying GPU Allocation Policy

Citrix Hypervisor and VMware vSphere both support the breadth first and depth-first GPU
allocation policies for vGPU-enabled VMs.
breadth-first
The breadth-first allocation policy attempts to minimize the number of vGPUs running on
each physical GPU. Newly created vGPUs are placed on the physical GPU that can support
the new vGPU and that has the fewest vGPUs already resident on it. This policy generally
leads to higher performance because it attempts to minimize sharing of physical GPUs, but
it may artificially limit the total number of vGPUs that can run.
depth-first
The depth-first allocation policy attempts to maximize the number of vGPUs running on
each physical GPU. Newly created vGPUs are placed on the physical GPU that can support
the new vGPU and that has the most vGPUs already resident on it. This policy generally
leads to higher density of vGPUs, particularly when different types of vGPUs are being run,
but may result in lower performance because it attempts to maximize sharing of physical
GPUs.
Each hypervisor uses a different GPU allocation policy by default.

‣ Citrix Hypervisor uses the depth-first allocation policy.

‣ VMware vSphere ESXi uses the breadth-first allocation policy.
If the default GPU allocation policy does not meet your requirements for performance or
density of vGPUs, you can change it.

6.2.1. Modifying GPU Allocation Policy on Citrix

Hypervisor
You can modify GPU allocation policy on Citrix Hypervisor by using XenCenter or the xe
command.

6.2.1.1. Modifying GPU Allocation Policy by Using xe

The allocation policy of a GPU group is stored in the allocation-algorithm parameter of the
gpu-group object.

To change the allocation policy of a GPU group, use gpu-group-param-set:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe gpu-group-param-get uuid=be825ba2-01d7-8d51-9780-f82cfaa64924 param-
name=allocation-algorithmdepth-first
[root@xenserver ~]# xe gpu-group-param-set uuid=be825ba2-01d7-8d51-9780-f82cfaa64924
allocation-algorithm=breadth-first
[root@xenserver ~]#

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 Modifying a VM's NVIDIA vGPU Configuration

6.2.1.2. Modifying GPU Allocation Policy GPU by Using

XenCenter
You can modify GPU allocation policy from the GPU tab in XenCenter.

Figure 23. Modifying GPU placement policy in XenCenter

6.2.2. Modifying GPU Allocation Policy on VMware

vSphere
How to switch to a depth-first allocation scheme depends on the version of VMware vSphere
that you are using.

‣ Supported versions earlier than 6.5: Add the following parameter to /etc/vmware/
config:
vGPU.consolidation = true
‣ Version 6.5: Use the vSphere Web Client.

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 Modifying a VM's NVIDIA vGPU Configuration

Before using the vSphere Web Client to change the allocation scheme, ensure that the ESXi
host is running and that all VMs on the host are powered off.

1. Log in to vCenter Server by using the vSphere Web Client.

2. In the navigation tree, select your ESXi host and click the Configure tab.
3. From the menu, choose Graphics and then click the Host Graphics tab.
4. On the Host Graphics tab, click Edit.

Figure 24. Breadth-first allocation scheme setting for vGPU-enabled

VMs

5. In the Edit Host Graphics Settings dialog box that opens, select these options and click OK.
a). If not already selected, select Shared Direct.
b). Select Group VMs on GPU until full.

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 Modifying a VM's NVIDIA vGPU Configuration

Figure 25. Host graphics settings for vGPU

After you click OK, the default graphics type changes to Shared Direct and the allocation
scheme for vGPU-enabled VMs is breadth-first.

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 Modifying a VM's NVIDIA vGPU Configuration

Figure 26. Depth-first allocation scheme setting for vGPU-enabled VMs

6. Restart the ESXi host or the Xorg service on the host.

See also the following topics in the VMware vSphere documentation:

‣ Log in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Web Client

‣ Configuring Host Graphics

6.3. Migrating a VM Configured with vGPU

On some hypervisors, NVIDIA vGPU software supports migration of VMs that are configured
with vGPU.
Before migrating a VM configured with vGPU, ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

‣ The VM is configured with vGPU.

‣ The VM is running.
‣ The VM obtained a suitable vGPU license when it was booted.

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‣ The destination host has a physical GPU of the same type as the GPU where the vGPU
currently resides.
‣ ECC memory configuration (enabled or disabled) on both the source and destination hosts
must be identical.
‣ The GPU topologies (including NVLink widths) on both the source and destination hosts
must be identical.
How to migrate a VM configured with vGPU depends on the hypervisor that you are using.
After migration, the vGPU type of the vGPU remains unchanged.
The time required for migration depends on the amount of frame buffer that the vGPU has.
Migration for a vGPU with a large amount of frame buffer is slower than for a vGPU with a
small amount of frame buffer.

6.3.1. Migrating a VM Configured with vGPU on

Citrix Hypervisor
NVIDIA vGPU software supports XenMotion for VMs that are configured with vGPU. XenMotion
enables you to move a running virtual machine from one physical host machine to another
host with very little disruption or downtime. For a VM that is configured with vGPU, the vGPU
is migrated with the VM to an NVIDIA GPU on the other host. The NVIDIA GPUs on both host
machines must be of the same type.
For details about which Citrix Hypervisor versions, NVIDIA GPUs, and guest OS releases
support XenMotion with vGPU, see Virtual GPU Software for Citrix Hypervisor Release Notes.
For best performance, the physical hosts should be configured to use the following:

‣ Shared storage, such as NFS, iSCSI, or Fiberchannel

If shared storage is not used, migration can take a very long time because vDISK must also
be migrated.
‣ 10 GB networking.
1. In Citrix XenCenter, context-click the VM and from the menu that opens, choose Migrate.
2. From the list of available hosts, select the destination host to which you want to migrate
the VM.
The destination host must have a physical GPU of the same type as the GPU where the
vGPU currently resides. Furthermore, the physical GPU must be capable of hosting the
vGPU. If these requirements are not met, no available hosts are listed.

6.3.2. Migrating a VM Configured with vGPU on

VMware vSphere
NVIDIA vGPU software supports VMware vMotion for VMs that are configured with vGPU.
VMware vMotion enables you to move a running virtual machine from one physical host

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 Modifying a VM's NVIDIA vGPU Configuration

machine to another host with very little disruption or downtime. For a VM that is configured
with vGPU, the vGPU is migrated with the VM to an NVIDIA GPU on the other host. The NVIDIA
GPUs on both host machines must be of the same type.
For details about which VMware vSphere versions, NVIDIA GPUs, and guest OS releases
support suspend and resume, see Virtual GPU Software for VMware vSphere Release Notes.
Perform this task in the VMware vSphere web client by using the Migration wizard.
Before migrating a VM configured with vGPU on VMware vSphere, ensure that the following
prerequisites are met:

‣ Your hosts are correctly configured for VMware vMotion. See Host Configuration for
vMotion in the VMware documentation.
‣ The prerequisites listed for all supported hypervisors in Migrating a VM Configured with
vGPU are met.
‣ NVIDIA vGPU migration is configured. See Configuring VMware vMotion with vGPU for
VMware vSphere.

1. Context-click the VM and from the menu that opens, choose Migrate.
2. For the type of migration, select Change compute resource only and click Next.
If you select Change both compute resource and storage, the time required for the
migration increases.
3. Select the destination host and click Next.
The destination host must have a physical GPU of the same type as the GPU where the
vGPU currently resides. Furthermore, the physical GPU must be capable of hosting the
vGPU. If these requirements are not met, no available hosts are listed.
4. Select the destination network and click Next.
5. Select the migration priority level and click Next.
6. Review your selections and click Finish.

For more information, see the following topics in the VMware documentation:

‣ Migrate a Virtual Machine to a New Compute Resource

‣ Using vMotion to Migrate vGPU Virtual Machines
If NVIDIA vGPU migration is not configured, any attempt to migrate a VM with an NVIDIA vGPU
fails and a window containing the following error message is displayed:
Compatibility Issue/Host
Migration was temporarily disabled due to another
migration activity.
vGPU hot migration is not enabled.

The window appears as follows:

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If you see this error, configure NVIDIA vGPU migration as explained in Configuring VMware
vMotion with vGPU for VMware vSphere.
If your version of VMware vSpehere ESXi does not support vMotion for VMs configured with
NVIDIA vGPU, any attempt to migrate a VM with an NVIDIA vGPU fails and a window containing
the following error message is displayed:
Compatibility Issues
...
A required migration feature is not supported on the "Source" host 'host-name'.

A warning or error occurred when migrating the virtual machine.

Virtual machine relocation, or power on after relocation or cloning can fail if
vGPU resources are not available on the destination host.

The window appears as follows:

For details about which VMware vSphere versions, NVIDIA GPUs, and guest OS releases
support suspend and resume, see Virtual GPU Software for VMware vSphere Release Notes.

6.3.3. Suspending and Resuming a VM Configured

with vGPU on VMware vSphere
NVIDIA vGPU software supports suspend and resume for VMs that are configured with vGPU.

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For details about which VMware vSphere versions, NVIDIA GPUs, and guest OS releases
support suspend and resume, see Virtual GPU Software for VMware vSphere Release Notes.
Perform this task in the VMware vSphere web client.

‣ To suspend a VM, context-click the VM that you want to suspend, and from the context
menu that pops up, choose Power > Suspend .
‣ To resume a VM, context-click the VM that you want to resume, and from the context menu
that pops up, choose Power > Power On .

6.4. Modifying a MIG-Backed vGPU's

Configuration
If compute instances weren't created within the GPU instances when the GPU was configured
for MIG-backed vGPUs, you can add the compute instances for an individual vGPU from within
the guest VM. If you want to replace the compute instances that were created when the GPU
was configured for MIG-backed vGPUs, you can delete them before adding the compute
instances from within the guest VM.
Ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

‣ You have root user privileges in the guest VM.

‣ The GPU instance is not being used by any other processes, such as CUDA applications,
monitoring applications, or the nvidia-smi command.
Perform this task in a guest VM command shell.

1. Open a command shell as the root user in the guest VM.

You can use secure shell (SSH) for this purpose.
2. List the available GPU instance.
$ nvidia-smi mig -lgi
+----------------------------------------------------+
| GPU instances: |
| GPU Name Profile Instance Placement |
| ID ID Start:Size |
|====================================================|
| 0 MIG 2g.10gb 0 0 0:8 |
+----------------------------------------------------+
3. Optional: If compute instances were created when the GPU was configured for MIG-
backed vGPUs that you no longer require, delete them.
$ nvidia-smi mig -dci -ci compute-instance-id -gi gpu-instance-id
compute-instance-id
The ID of the compute instance that you want to delete.
gpu-instance-id
The ID of the GPU instance from which you want to delete the compute instance.

Note: If the GPU instance is being used by another process, this command fails. In this
situation, stop all processes that are using the GPU instance and retry the command.

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This example deletes compute instance 0 from GPU instance 0 on GPU 0.

$ nvidia-smi mig -dci -ci 0 -gi 0
Successfully destroyed compute instance ID 0 from GPU 0 GPU instance ID 0
4. List the compute instance profiles that are available for your GPU instance.
$ nvidia-smi mig -lcip
This example shows that one MIG 2g.10gb compute instance or two MIG 1c.2g.10gb
compute instances can be created within the GPU instance.
$ nvidia-smi mig -lcip
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Compute instance profiles: |
| GPU GPU Name Profile Instances Exclusive Shared |
| Instance ID Free/Total SM DEC ENC OFA |
| ID CE JPEG |
|===============================================================================|
| 0 0 MIG 1c.2g.10gb 0 2/2 14 1 0 0 |
| 2 0 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 0 0 MIG 2g.10gb 1* 1/1 28 1 0 0 |
| 2 0 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
5. Create the compute instances that you need within the available GPU instance.
Create each compute instance individually by running the following command.
$ nvidia-smi mig -cci compute-instance-profile-id -gi gpu-instance-id
compute-instance-profile-id
The compute instance profile ID that specifies the compute instance.
gpu-instance-id
The GPU instance ID that specifies the GPU instance within which you want to create
the compute instance.

Note: If the GPU instance is being used by another process, this command fails. In this
situation, stop all processes that are using the GPU and retry the command.

This example creates a MIG 2g.10gb compute instance on GPU instance 0.

$ nvidia-smi mig -cci 1 -gi 0
Successfully created compute instance ID 0 on GPU 0 GPU instance ID 0 using
profile MIG 2g.10gb (ID 1)
This example creates two MIG 1c.2g.10gb compute instances on GPU instance 0 by
running the same command twice.
$ nvidia-smi mig -cci 0 -gi 0
Successfully created compute instance ID 0 on GPU 0 GPU instance ID 0 using
profile MIG 1c.2g.10gb (ID 0)
$ nvidia-smi mig -cci 0 -gi 0
Successfully created compute instance ID 1 on GPU 0 GPU instance ID 0 using
profile MIG 1c.2g.10gb (ID 0)
6. Verify that the compute instances were created within the GPU instance.
Use the nvidia-smi command for this purpose.
This example confirms that a MIG 2g.10gb compute instance was created on GPU
instance 0.
nvidia-smi
Mon Apr 26 19:01:24 2021
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 460.73.02 Driver Version: 460.73.02 CUDA Version: 11.2 |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

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| GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |

| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
| | | MIG M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0 GRID A100X-2-10C On | 00000000:00:08.0 Off | On |
| N/A N/A P0 N/A / N/A | 1058MiB / 10235MiB | N/A Default |
| | | Enabled |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MIG devices: |
+------------------+----------------------+-----------+-----------------------+
| GPU GI CI MIG | Memory-Usage | Vol| Shared |
| ID ID Dev | BAR1-Usage | SM Unc| CE ENC DEC OFA JPG|
| | | ECC| |
|==================+======================+===========+=======================|
| 0 0 0 0 | 1058MiB / 10235MiB | 28 0 | 2 0 1 0 0 |
| | 0MiB / 4096MiB | | |
+------------------+----------------------+-----------+-----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: |
| GPU GI CI PID Type Process name GPU Memory |
| ID ID Usage |
|=============================================================================|
| No running processes found |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

This example confirms that two MIG 1c.2g.10gb compute instances were created on GPU
instance 0.
$ nvidia-smi
Mon Apr 26 19:01:24 2021
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 460.73.02 Driver Version: 460.73.02 CUDA Version: 11.2 |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
| | | MIG M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0 GRID A100X-2-10C On | 00000000:00:08.0 Off | On |
| N/A N/A P0 N/A / N/A | 1058MiB / 10235MiB | N/A Default |
| | | Enabled |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MIG devices: |
+------------------+----------------------+-----------+-----------------------+
| GPU GI CI MIG | Memory-Usage | Vol| Shared |
| ID ID Dev | BAR1-Usage | SM Unc| CE ENC DEC OFA JPG|
| | | ECC| |
|==================+======================+===========+=======================|
| 0 0 0 0 | 1058MiB / 10235MiB | 14 0 | 2 0 1 0 0 |
| | 0MiB / 4096MiB | | |
+------------------+ +-----------+-----------------------+
| 0 0 1 1 | | 14 0 | 2 0 1 0 0 |
| | | | |
+------------------+----------------------+-----------+-----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: |
| GPU GI CI PID Type Process name GPU Memory |
| ID ID Usage |
|=============================================================================|
| No running processes found |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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 Modifying a VM's NVIDIA vGPU Configuration

6.5. Enabling Unified Memory for a vGPU

Unified memory is disabled by default. If used, you must enable unified memory individually for
each vGPU that requires it by setting a vGPU plugin parameter. How to enable unified memory
for a vGPU depends on the hypervisor that you are using.

6.5.1. Enabling Unified Memory for a vGPU on Citrix

Hypervisor
On Citrix Hypervisor, enable unified memory by setting the enable_uvm vGPU plugin
parameter.
Perform this task for each vGPU that requires unified memory by using the xe command.

1. Get the UUIDs of all VMs on the hypervisor host and use the output from the command to
identify the VM to which the vGPU is assigned.
[root@xenserver ~] xe vm-list
...
uuid ( RO) : 7f6c855d-5635-2d57-9fbc-b1200172162f
name-label ( RW): RHEL8.3
power-state ( RO): running
...
2. Get the UUIDs of all vGPUs on the hypervisor host and from the UUID of the VM to which
the vGPU is assigned, determine the UUID of the vGPU.
[root@xenserver ~] xe vgpu-list
...
uuid ( RO) : d15083f8-5c59-7474-d0cb-fbc3f7284f1b
vm-uuid ( RO): 7f6c855d-5635-2d57-9fbc-b1200172162f
device ( RO): 0
gpu-group-uuid ( RO): 3a2fbc36-827d-a078-0b2f-9e869ae6fd93
...
3. Set the enable_uvm vGPU plugin parameter to 1.
[root@xenserver ~] xe vgpu-param-set uuid=vgpu-uuid extra_args='enable_uvm=1'
vgpu-uuid
The UUID of the vGPU, which you obtained in the previous step.
This example enables unified memory for the vGPU that has the UUID
d15083f8-5c59-7474-d0cb-fbc3f7284f1b.
[root@xenserver ~] xe vgpu-param-set uuid=d15083f8-5c59-7474-d0cb-fbc3f7284f1b
extra_args='enable_uvm=1'

6.5.2. Enabling Unified Memory for a vGPU on Red

Hat Enterprise Linux KVM
On Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, enable unified memory by setting the enable_uvm vGPU
plugin parameter.
Ensure that the mdev device file that represents the vGPU has been created as explained in
Creating an NVIDIA vGPU on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM.
Perform this task for each vGPU that requires unified memory.

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 Modifying a VM's NVIDIA vGPU Configuration

Set the enable_uvm vGPU plugin parameter for the mdev device file that represents the vGPU
to 1 as explained in Setting vGPU Plugin Parameters on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM.

6.5.3. Enabling Unified Memory for a vGPU on

VMware vSphere
On VMware vSphere, enable unified memory by setting the pciPassthruvgpu-
id.cfg.enable_uvm configuration parameter in advanced VM attributes.
Ensure that the VM to which the vGPU is assigned is powered off.
Perform this task in the vSphere Client for each vGPU that requires unified memory.

1. In the vSphere Client, browse to the VM to which the vGPU is assigned.

2. Context-click the VM and choose Edit Settings.
3. In the Edit Settings window, click the VM Options tab.
4. From the Advanced drop-down list, select Edit Configuration.
5. In the Configuration Parameters dialog box, click Add Row.
6. In the Name field, type the parameter name pciPassthruvgpu-id.cfg.enable_uvm, in
the Value field type 1, and click OK.
vgpu-id
A positive integer that identifies the vGPU assigned to a VM. For the first vGPU assigned
to a VM, vgpu-id is 0. For example, if two vGPUs are assigned to a VM and you are
enabling unified memory for both vGPUs, set pciPassthru0.cfg.enable_uvm and
pciPassthru1.cfg.enable_uvm to 1.

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Chapter 7. Monitoring GPU
Performance

NVIDIA vGPU software enables you to monitor the performance of physical GPUs and virtual
GPUs from the hypervisor and from within individual guest VMs.
You can use several tools for monitoring GPU performance:

‣ From any supported hypervisor, and from a guest VM that is running a 64-bit edition of
Windows or Linux, you can use NVIDIA System Management Interface, nvidia-smi.
‣ From Citrix Hypervisor, you can use Citrix XenCenter.
‣ From a Windows guest VM, you can use these tools:
‣ Windows Performance Monitor
‣ Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)

7.1. NVIDIA System Management

Interface nvidia-smi
NVIDIA System Management Interface, nvidia-smi, is a command-line tool that reports
management information for NVIDIA GPUs.
The nvidia-smi tool is included in the following packages:

‣ NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager package for each supported hypervisor

‣ NVIDIA driver package for each supported guest OS
The scope of the reported management information depends on where you run nvidia-smi
from:

‣ From a hypervisor command shell, such as the Citrix Hypervisor dom0 shell or VMware
ESXi host shell, nvidia-smi reports management information for NVIDIA physical GPUs
and virtual GPUs present in the system.

Note: When run from a hypervisor command shell, nvidia-smi will not list any GPU that is
currently allocated for GPU pass-through.

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‣ From a guest VM that is running Windows or Linux, nvidia-smi retrieves usage statistics
for vGPUs or pass-through GPUs that are assigned to the VM.
From a Windows guest VM, you can run nvidia-smi from a command prompt by changing
to the C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVSMI folder and running the nvidia-
smi.exe command.

7.2. Monitoring GPU Performance from a

Hypervisor
You can monitor GPU performance from any supported hypervisor by using the NVIDIA System
Management Interface nvidia-smi command-line utility. On Citrix Hypervisor platforms, you
can also use Citrix XenCenter to monitor GPU performance.

Note: You cannot monitor from the hypervisor the performance of GPUs that are being used for
GPU pass-through. You can monitor the performance of pass-through GPUs only from within
the guest VM that is using them.

7.2.1. Using nvidia-smi to Monitor GPU

Performance from a Hypervisor
You can get management information for the NVIDIA physical GPUs and virtual GPUs present
in the system by running nvidia-smi from a hypervisor command shell such as the Citrix
Hypervisor dom0 shell or the VMware ESXi host shell.
Without a subcommand, nvidia-smi provides management information for physical GPUs. To
examine virtual GPUs in more detail, use nvidia-smi with the vgpu subcommand.
From the command line, you can get help information about the nvidia-smi tool and the
vgpu subcommand.

Help Information Command

A list of subcommands supported by the nvidia-smi tool. Note nvidia-smi -h
that not all subcommands apply to GPUs that support NVIDIA vGPU
software.
A list of all options supported by the vgpu subcommand. nvidia-smi vgpu –h

7.2.1.1. Getting a Summary of all Physical GPUs in the

System
To get a summary of all physical GPUs in the system, along with PCI bus IDs, power state,
temperature, current memory usage, and so on, run nvidia-smi without additional
arguments.
Each vGPU instance is reported in the Compute processes section, together with its physical
GPU index and the amount of frame-buffer memory assigned to it.

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In the example that follows, three vGPUs are running in the system: One vGPU is running on
each of the physical GPUs 0, 1, and 2.
[root@vgpu ~]# nvidia-smi
Fri Apr 23 09:26:18 2021
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 460.73.02 Driver Version: 460.73.02 |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0 Tesla M60 On | 0000:83:00.0 Off | Off |
| N/A 31C P8 23W / 150W | 1889MiB / 8191MiB | 7% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 1 Tesla M60 On | 0000:84:00.0 Off | Off |
| N/A 26C P8 23W / 150W | 926MiB / 8191MiB | 9% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 2 Tesla M10 On | 0000:8A:00.0 Off | N/A |
| N/A 23C P8 10W / 53W | 1882MiB / 8191MiB | 12% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 3 Tesla M10 On | 0000:8B:00.0 Off | N/A |
| N/A 26C P8 10W / 53W | 10MiB / 8191MiB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 4 Tesla M10 On | 0000:8C:00.0 Off | N/A |
| N/A 34C P8 10W / 53W | 10MiB / 8191MiB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 5 Tesla M10 On | 0000:8D:00.0 Off | N/A |
| N/A 32C P8 10W / 53W | 10MiB / 8191MiB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: GPU Memory |
| GPU PID Type Process name Usage |
|=============================================================================|
| 0 11924 C+G /usr/lib64/xen/bin/vgpu 1856MiB |
| 1 11903 C+G /usr/lib64/xen/bin/vgpu 896MiB |
| 2 11908 C+G /usr/lib64/xen/bin/vgpu 1856MiB |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[root@vgpu ~]#

7.2.1.2. Getting a Summary of all vGPUs in the System

To get a summary of the vGPUs currently that are currently running on each physical GPU in
the system, run nvidia-smi vgpu without additional arguments.
[root@vgpu ~]# nvidia-smi vgpu
Fri Apr 23 09:27:06 2021
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 460.73.02 Driver Version: 460.73.02 |
|-------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+
| GPU Name | Bus-Id | GPU-Util |
| vGPU ID Name | VM ID VM Name | vGPU-Util |
|===============================+================================+============|
| 0 Tesla M60 | 0000:83:00.0 | 7% |
| 11924 GRID M60-2Q | 3 Win7-64 GRID test 2 | 6% |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+
| 1 Tesla M60 | 0000:84:00.0 | 9% |
| 11903 GRID M60-1B | 1 Win8.1-64 GRID test 3 | 8% |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+
| 2 Tesla M10 | 0000:8A:00.0 | 12% |
| 11908 GRID M10-2Q | 2 Win7-64 GRID test 1 | 10% |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+
| 3 Tesla M10 | 0000:8B:00.0 | 0% |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+
| 4 Tesla M10 | 0000:8C:00.0 | 0% |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+
| 5 Tesla M10 | 0000:8D:00.0 | 0% |

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

+-------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+
[root@vgpu ~]#

7.2.1.3. Getting vGPU Details

To get detailed information about all the vGPUs on the platform, run nvidia-smi vgpu with
the –q or --query option.
To limit the information retrieved to a subset of the GPUs on the platform, use the –i or --id
option to select one or more vGPUs.
[root@vgpu ~]# nvidia-smi vgpu -q -i 1
GPU 00000000:86:00.0
Active vGPUs : 1
vGPU ID : 3251634178
VM ID : 1
VM Name : Win7
vGPU Name : GRID M60-8Q
vGPU Type : 22
vGPU UUID : b8c6d0e1-d167-11e8-b8c9-55705e5a54a6
Guest Driver Version : 411.81
License Status : Unlicensed
Accounting Mode : Disabled
Accounting Buffer Size: 4000
Frame Rate Limit : 3 FPS
FB Memory Usage :
Total : 8192 MiB
Used : 675 MiB
Free : 7517 MiB
Utilization :
Gpu : 3 %
Memory : 0 %
Encoder : 0 %
Decoder : 0 %
Encoder Stats :
Active Sessions : 0
Average FPS : 0
Average Latency : 0
FBC Stats :
Active Sessions : 1
Average FPS : 227
Average Latency : 4403
[root@vgpu ~]#

7.2.1.4. Monitoring vGPU engine usage

To monitor vGPU engine usage across multiple vGPUs, run nvidia-smi vgpu with the –u or
--utilization option.

For each vGPU, the usage statistics in the following table are reported once every second. The
table also shows the name of the column in the command output under which each statistic is
reported.

Statistic Column
3D/Compute sm

Memory controller bandwidth mem

Video encoder enc

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

Statistic Column
Video decoder dec

Each reported percentage is the percentage of the physical GPU’s capacity that a vGPU is
using. For example, a vGPU that uses 20% of the GPU’s graphics engine’s capacity will report
20%.
To modify the reporting frequency, use the –l or --loop option.
To limit monitoring to a subset of the GPUs on the platform, use the –i or --id option to
select one or more vGPUs.
[root@vgpu ~]# nvidia-smi vgpu -u
# gpu vgpu sm mem enc dec
# Idx Id % % % %
0 11924 6 3 0 0
1 11903 8 3 0 0
2 11908 10 4 0 0
3 - - - - -
4 - - - - -
5 - - - - -
0 11924 6 3 0 0
1 11903 9 3 0 0
2 11908 10 4 0 0
3 - - - - -
4 - - - - -
5 - - - - -
0 11924 6 3 0 0
1 11903 8 3 0 0
2 11908 10 4 0 0
3 - - - - -
4 - - - - -
5 - - - - -
^C[root@vgpu ~]#

7.2.1.5. Monitoring vGPU engine usage by applications

To monitor vGPU engine usage by applications across multiple vGPUs, run nvidia-smi vgpu
with the –p option.
For each application on each vGPU, the usage statistics in the following table are reported
once every second. Each application is identified by its process ID and process name. The
table also shows the name of the column in the command output under which each statistic is
reported.

Statistic Column
3D/Compute sm

Memory controller bandwidth mem

Video encoder enc

Video decoder dec

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

Each reported percentage is the percentage of the physical GPU’s capacity used by an
application running on a vGPU that resides on the physical GPU. For example, an application
that uses 20% of the GPU’s graphics engine’s capacity will report 20%.
To modify the reporting frequency, use the –l or --loop option.
To limit monitoring to a subset of the GPUs on the platform, use the –i or --id option to
select one or more vGPUs.
[root@vgpu ~]# nvidia-smi vgpu -p
# GPU vGPU process process sm mem enc dec
# Idx Id Id name % % % %
0 38127 1528 dwm.exe 0 0 0 0
1 37408 4232 DolphinVS.exe 32 25 0 0
1 257869 4432 FurMark.exe 16 12 0 0
1 257969 4552 FurMark.exe 48 37 0 0
0 38127 1528 dwm.exe 0 0 0 0
1 37408 4232 DolphinVS.exe 16 12 0 0
1 257911 656 DolphinVS.exe 32 24 0 0
1 257969 4552 FurMark.exe 48 37 0 0
0 38127 1528 dwm.exe 0 0 0 0
1 257869 4432 FurMark.exe 38 30 0 0
1 257911 656 DolphinVS.exe 19 14 0 0
1 257969 4552 FurMark.exe 38 30 0 0
0 38127 1528 dwm.exe 0 0 0 0
1 257848 3220 Balls64.exe 16 12 0 0
1 257869 4432 FurMark.exe 16 12 0 0
1 257911 656 DolphinVS.exe 16 12 0 0
1 257969 4552 FurMark.exe 48 37 0 0
0 38127 1528 dwm.exe 0 0 0 0
1 257911 656 DolphinVS.exe 32 25 0 0
1 257969 4552 FurMark.exe 64 50 0 0
0 38127 1528 dwm.exe 0 0 0 0
1 37408 4232 DolphinVS.exe 16 12 0 0
1 257911 656 DolphinVS.exe 16 12 0 0
1 257969 4552 FurMark.exe 64 49 0 0
0 38127 1528 dwm.exe 0 0 0 0
1 37408 4232 DolphinVS.exe 16 12 0 0
1 257869 4432 FurMark.exe 16 12 0 0
1 257969 4552 FurMark.exe 64 49 0 0
[root@vgpu ~]#

7.2.1.6. Monitoring Encoder Sessions

Note: Encoder sessions can be monitored only for vGPUs assigned to Windows VMs. No
encoder session statistics are reported for vGPUs assigned to Linux VMs.

To monitor the encoder sessions for processes running on multiple vGPUs, run nvidia-smi
vgpu with the –es or --encodersessions option.

For each encoder session, the following statistics are reported once every second:

‣ GPU ID
‣ vGPU ID
‣ Encoder session ID
‣ PID of the process in the VM that created the encoder session
‣ Codec type, for example, H.264 or H.265

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

‣ Encode horizontal resolution

‣ Encode vertical resolution
‣ One-second trailing average encoded FPS
‣ One-second trailing average encode latency in microseconds
To modify the reporting frequency, use the –l or --loop option.
To limit monitoring to a subset of the GPUs on the platform, use the –i or --id option to
select one or more vGPUs.
[root@vgpu ~]# nvidia-smi vgpu -es
# GPU vGPU Session Process Codec H V Average Average
# Idx Id Id Id Type Res Res FPS Latency(us)
1 21211 2 2308 H.264 1920 1080 424 1977
1 21206 3 2424 H.264 1920 1080 0 0
1 22011 1 3676 H.264 1920 1080 374 1589
1 21211 2 2308 H.264 1920 1080 360 807
1 21206 3 2424 H.264 1920 1080 325 1474
1 22011 1 3676 H.264 1920 1080 313 1005
1 21211 2 2308 H.264 1920 1080 329 1732
1 21206 3 2424 H.264 1920 1080 352 1415
1 22011 1 3676 H.264 1920 1080 434 1894
1 21211 2 2308 H.264 1920 1080 362 1818
1 21206 3 2424 H.264 1920 1080 296 1072
1 22011 1 3676 H.264 1920 1080 416 1994
1 21211 2 2308 H.264 1920 1080 444 1912
1 21206 3 2424 H.264 1920 1080 330 1261
1 22011 1 3676 H.264 1920 1080 436 1644
1 21211 2 2308 H.264 1920 1080 344 1500
1 21206 3 2424 H.264 1920 1080 393 1727
1 22011 1 3676 H.264 1920 1080 364 1945
1 21211 2 2308 H.264 1920 1080 555 1653
1 21206 3 2424 H.264 1920 1080 295 925
1 22011 1 3676 H.264 1920 1080 372 1869
1 21211 2 2308 H.264 1920 1080 326 2206
1 21206 3 2424 H.264 1920 1080 318 1366
1 22011 1 3676 H.264 1920 1080 464 2015
1 21211 2 2308 H.264 1920 1080 305 1167
1 21206 3 2424 H.264 1920 1080 445 1892
1 22011 1 3676 H.264 1920 1080 361 906
1 21211 2 2308 H.264 1920 1080 353 1436
1 21206 3 2424 H.264 1920 1080 354 1798
1 22011 1 3676 H.264 1920 1080 373 1310
^C[root@vgpu ~]#

7.2.1.7. Monitoring Frame Buffer Capture (FBC) Sessions

To monitor the FBC sessions for processes running on multiple vGPUs, run nvidia-smi vgpu
with the -fs or --fbcsessions option.
For each FBC session, the following statistics are reported once every second:

‣ GPU ID
‣ vGPU ID
‣ FBC session ID
‣ PID of the process in the VM that created the FBC session
‣ Display ordinal associated with the FBC session.

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

‣ FBC session type

‣ FBC session flags
‣ Capture mode
‣ Maximum horizontal resolution supported by the session
‣ Maximum vertical resolution supported by the session
‣ Horizontal resolution requested by the caller in the capture call
‣ Vertical resolution requested by the caller in the capture call
‣ Moving average of new frames captured per second by the session
‣ Moving average new frame capture latency in microseconds for the session
To modify the reporting frequency, use the –l or --loop option.
To limit monitoring to a subset of the GPUs on the platform, use the –i or --id option to
select one or more vGPUs.
[root@vgpu ~]# nvidia-smi vgpu -fs
# GPU vGPU Session Process Display Session Diff. Map Class. Map
Capture Max H Max V H V Average Average
# Idx Id Id Id Ordinal Type State State
Mode Res Res Res Res FPS Latency(us)
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Unknown 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Unknown 4096 2160 0 0 0 0

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
# GPU vGPU Session Process Display Session Diff. Map Class. Map
Capture Max H Max V H V Average Average
# Idx Id Id Id Ordinal Type State State
Mode Res Res Res Res FPS Latency(us)
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Unknown 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Unknown 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Unknown 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Unknown 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Unknown 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Unknown 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Unknown 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 1600 900 25 39964
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 1600 900 25 39964
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

# GPU vGPU Session Process Display Session Diff. Map Class. Map
Capture Max H Max V H V Average Average
# Idx Id Id Id Ordinal Type State State
Mode Res Res Res Res FPS Latency(us)
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 1600 900 135 7400
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 1600 900 227 4403
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 1600 900 227 4403
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
# GPU vGPU Session Process Display Session Diff. Map Class. Map
Capture Max H Max V H V Average Average

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

# Idx Id Id Id Ordinal Type State State

Mode Res Res Res Res FPS Latency(us)
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
0 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
1 3251634178 1 3984 0 ToSys Disabled Disabled
Blocking 4096 2160 0 0 0 0
2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
^C[root@vgpu ~]#

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

7.2.1.8. Listing Supported vGPU Types

To list the virtual GPU types that the GPUs in the system support, run nvidia-smi vgpu with
the –s or --supported option.
To limit the retrieved information to a subset of the GPUs on the platform, use the –i or --id
option to select one or more vGPUs.
[root@vgpu ~]# nvidia-smi vgpu -s -i 0
GPU 0000:83:00.0
GRID M60-0B
GRID M60-0Q
GRID M60-1A
GRID M60-1B
GRID M60-1Q
GRID M60-2A
GRID M60-2Q
GRID M60-4A
GRID M60-4Q
GRID M60-8A
GRID M60-8Q
[root@vgpu ~]#

To view detailed information about the supported vGPU types, add the –v or --verbose option:
[root@vgpu ~]# nvidia-smi vgpu -s -i 0 -v | less
GPU 00000000:83:00.0
vGPU Type ID : 0xb
Name : GRID M60-0B
Class : NVS
Max Instances : 16
Device ID : 0x13f210de
Sub System ID : 0x13f21176
FB Memory : 512 MiB
Display Heads : 2
Maximum X Resolution : 2560
Maximum Y Resolution : 1600
Frame Rate Limit : 45 FPS
GRID License : GRID-Virtual-PC,2.0;GRID-Virtual-WS,2.0;GRID-
Virtual-WS-Ext,2.0;Quadro-Virtual-DWS,5.0
vGPU Type ID : 0xc
Name : GRID M60-0Q
Class : Quadro
Max Instances : 16
Device ID : 0x13f210de
Sub System ID : 0x13f2114c
FB Memory : 512 MiB
Display Heads : 2
Maximum X Resolution : 2560
Maximum Y Resolution : 1600
Frame Rate Limit : 60 FPS
GRID License : GRID-Virtual-WS,2.0;GRID-Virtual-WS-Ext,2.0;Quadro-
Virtual-DWS,5.0
vGPU Type ID : 0xd
Name : GRID M60-1A
Class : NVS
Max Instances : 8
…
[root@vgpu ~]#

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

7.2.1.9. Listing the vGPU Types that Can Currently Be

Created
To list the virtual GPU types that can currently be created on GPUs in the system, run nvidia-
smi vgpu with the –c or --creatable option.

This property is a dynamic property that varies for each GPU depending on whether MIG mode
is enabled for the GPU.

‣ If MIG mode is not enabled for the GPU, or if the GPU does not support MIG, this property
reflects the number and type of vGPUs that are already running on the GPU.

‣ If no vGPUs are running on the GPU, all vGPU types that the GPU supports are listed.
‣ If one or more vGPUs are running on the GPU, but the GPU is not fully loaded, only the
type of the vGPUs that are already running is listed.
‣ If the GPU is fully loaded, no vGPU types are listed.
‣ If MIG mode is enabled for the GPU, the result reflects the number and type of GPU
instances on which no vGPUs are already running.

‣ If no GPU instances have been created, no vGPU types are listed.

‣ If GPU instances have been created, only the vGPU types that correspond to GPU
instances on which no vGPU is running are listed.
‣ If a vGPU is running on every GPU instance, no vGPU types are listed.
To limit the retrieved information to a subset of the GPUs on the platform, use the –i or --id
option to select one or more vGPUs.
[root@vgpu ~]# nvidia-smi vgpu -c -i 0
GPU 0000:83:00.0
GRID M60-2Q
[root@vgpu ~]#

To view detailed information about the vGPU types that can currently be created, add the –v or
--verbose option.

7.2.2. Using Citrix XenCenter to monitor GPU

performance
If you are using Citrix Hypervisor as your hypervisor, you can monitor GPU performance in
XenCenter.

1. Click on a server’s Performance tab.

2. Right-click on the graph window, then select Actions and New Graph.
3. Provide a name for the graph.
4. In the list of available counter resources, select one or more GPU counters.

Counters are listed for each physical GPU not currently being used for GPU pass-through.

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

Figure 27. Using Citrix XenCenter to monitor GPU performance

7.3. Monitoring GPU Performance from a

Guest VM
You can use monitoring tools within an individual guest VM to monitor the performance
of vGPUs or pass-through GPUs that are assigned to the VM. The scope of these tools is
limited to the guest VM within which you use them. You cannot use monitoring tools within an
individual guest VM to monitor any other GPUs in the platform.
For a vGPU, only these metrics are reported in a guest VM:

‣ 3D/Compute
‣ Memory controller
‣ Video encoder
‣ Video decoder
‣ Frame buffer usage

Other metrics normally present in a GPU are not applicable to a vGPU and are reported as
zero or N/A, depending on the tool that you are using.

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7.3.1. Using nvidia-smi to Monitor GPU

Performance from a Guest VM
In VMs that are running Windows and 64-bit editions of Linux, you can use the nvidia-smi
command to retrieve statistics for the total usage by all applications running in the VM and
usage by individual applications of the following resources:

‣ GPU
‣ Video encoder
‣ Video decoder
‣ Frame buffer
To use nvidia-smi to retrieve statistics for the total resource usage by all applications
running in the VM, run the following command:
nvidia-smi dmon

The following example shows the result of running nvidia-smi dmon from within a Windows
guest VM.

Figure 28. Using nvidia-smi from a Windows guest VM to get total

resource usage by all applications

To use nvidia-smi to retrieve statistics for resource usage by individual applications running
in the VM, run the following command:
nvidia-smi pmon

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

Figure 29. Using nvidia-smi from a Windows guest VM to get resource

usage by individual applications

7.3.2. Using Windows Performance Counters to

monitor GPU performance
In Windows VMs, GPU metrics are available as Windows Performance Counters through the
NVIDIA GPU object.
Any application that is enabled to read performance counters can access these metrics. You
can access these metrics directly through the Windows Performance Monitor application that
is included with the Windows OS.
The following example shows GPU metrics in the Performance Monitor application.

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

Figure 30. Using Windows Performance Monitor to monitor GPU

performance

On vGPUs, the following GPU performance counters read as 0 because they are not applicable
to vGPUs:

‣ % Bus Usage
‣ % Cooler rate
‣ Core Clock MHz
‣ Fan Speed
‣ Memory Clock MHz
‣ PCI-E current speed to GPU Mbps
‣ PCI-E current width to GPU
‣ PCI-E downstream width to GPU
‣ Power Consumption mW
‣ Temperature C

7.3.3. Using NVWMI to monitor GPU performance

In Windows VMs, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) exposes GPU metrics in
the ROOT\CIMV2\NV namespace through NVWMI. NVWMI is included with the NVIDIA driver
package. After the driver is installed, NVWMI help information in Windows Help format is
available as follows:
C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA WMI Provider>nvwmi.chm

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

Any WMI-enabled application can access these metrics. The following example shows GPU
metrics in the third-party application WMI Explorer, which is available for download from the
from the CodePlex WMI Explorer page.

Figure 31. Using WMI Explorer to monitor GPU performance

On vGPUs, some instance properties of the following classes do not apply to vGPUs:

‣ Gpu
‣ PcieLink

Gpu instance properties that do not apply to vGPUs

Gpu Instance Property Value reported on vGPU

gpuCoreClockCurrent -1
memoryClockCurrent -1
pciDownstreamWidth 0
pcieGpu.curGen 0
pcieGpu.curSpeed 0

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 Monitoring GPU Performance

Gpu Instance Property Value reported on vGPU

pcieGpu.curWidth 0
pcieGpu.maxGen 1
pcieGpu.maxSpeed 2500
pcieGpu.maxWidth 0
power -1
powerSampleCount -1
powerSamplingPeriod -1
verVBIOS.orderedValue 0
verVBIOS.strValue -
verVBIOS.value 0

PcieLink instance properties that do not apply to vGPUs

No instances of PcieLink are reported for vGPU.

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Chapter 8. Changing Scheduling
Behavior for Time-Sliced
vGPUs

GPUs based on the NVIDIA Maxwell™ graphic architecture implement a best effort vGPU
scheduler that aims to balance performance across vGPUs. The best effort scheduler allows
a vGPU to use GPU processing cycles that are not being used by other vGPUs. Under some
circumstances, a VM running a graphics-intensive application may adversely affect the
performance of graphics-light applications running in other VMs.
GPUs based on NVIDIA GPU architectures after the Maxwell architecture additionally support
equal share and fixed share vGPU schedulers. These schedulers impose a limit on GPU
processing cycles used by a vGPU, which prevents graphics-intensive applications running in
one VM from affecting the performance of graphics-light applications running in other VMs. On
GPUs that support multiple vGPU schedulers, you can select the vGPU scheduler to use. You
can also set the length of the time slice for the equal share and fixed share vGPU schedulers.

Note: If you use the equal share or fixed share vGPU scheduler, the frame-rate limiter (FRL) is
disabled.

The best effort scheduler is the default scheduler for all supported GPU architectures.
If you are unsure of the NVIDIA GPU architecture of your GPU, consult the release notes for
your hypervisor at NVIDIA Virtual GPU Software Documentation.

8.1. Scheduling Policies for Time-Sliced

vGPUs
In addition to the default best effort scheduler, GPUs based on NVIDIA GPU architectures after
the Maxwell architecture support equal share and fixed share vGPU schedulers.
Equal share scheduler
The physical GPU is shared equally amongst the running vGPUs that reside on it. As vGPUs
are added to or removed from a GPU, the share of the GPU's processing cycles allocated to
each vGPU changes accordingly. As a result, the performance of a vGPU may increase as
other vGPUs on the same GPU are stopped, or decrease as other vGPUs are started on the
same GPU.

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 Changing Scheduling Behavior for Time-Sliced vGPUs

Fixed share scheduler

Each vGPU is given a fixed share of the physical GPU's processing cycles, the amount of
which depends on the vGPU type, which in turn determines the maximum number of vGPUs
per physical GPU. For example, the maximum number of P40-4Q vGPUs per physical GPU
is 6. When the scheduling policy is fixed share, each P40-4Q vGPU is given one sixth, or
approximately 16.7%, the physical GPU's processing cycles. As vGPUs are added to or
removed from a GPU, the share of the GPU's processing cycles allocated to each vGPU
remains constant. As a result, the performance of a vGPU remains unchanged as other
vGPUs are stopped or started on the same GPU.

8.2. Scheduler Time Slice for Time-Sliced

vGPUs
When multiple VMs access the vGPUs on a single GPU, the GPU performs the work for each
VM serially. The vGPU scheduler time slice represents the amount of time that the work
of a VM is allowed to run on the GPU before it is preempted and the work of the next VM is
performed.
For the equal share and fixed share vGPU schedulers, you can set the length of the time slice.
The length of the time slice affects latency and throughput. The optimal length of the time
slice depends the workload that the GPU is handling.

‣ For workloads that require low latency, a shorter time slice is optimal. Typically, these
workloads are applications that must generate output at a fixed interval, such as graphics
applications that generate output at a frame rate of 60 FPS. These workloads are sensitive
to latency and should be allowed to run at least once per interval. A shorter time slice
reduces latency and improves responsiveness by causing the scheduler to switch more
frequently between VMs.
‣ For workloads that require maximum throughput, a longer time slice is optimal. Typically,
these workloads are applications that must complete their work as quickly as possible and
do not require responsiveness, such as CUDA applications. A longer time slice increases
throughput by preventing frequent switching between VMs.

8.3. RmPVMRL Registry Key

The RmPVMRL registry key controls the scheduling behavior for NVIDIA vGPUs by setting the
scheduling policy and the length of the time slice.

Note: You can change the vGPU scheduling behavior only on GPUs that support multiple vGPU
schedulers, that is, GPUs based on NVIDIA GPU architectures after the Maxwell architecture.

Type
Dword

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 Changing Scheduling Behavior for Time-Sliced vGPUs

Contents
Value Meaning
0x00 (default) Best effort scheduler
0x01 Equal share scheduler with the default time slice length
0x00TT0001 Equal share scheduler with a user-defined time slice length TT
0x11 Fixed share scheduler with the default time slice length
0x00TT0011 Fixed share scheduler with a user-defined time slice length TT

The default time slice length depends on the maximum number of vGPUs per physical GPU
allowed for the vGPU type.

Maximum Number of vGPUs Default Time Slice Length

Less than or equal to 8 2 ms
Greater than 8 1 ms

TT
Two hexadecimal digits in the range 01 to 1E that set the length of the time slice in
milliseconds (ms) for the equal share and fixed share schedulers. The minimum length is 1
ms and the maximum length is 30 ms.
If TT is 00, the length is set to the default length for the vGPU type.
If TT is greater than 1E, the length is set to 30 ms.

Examples
This example sets the vGPU scheduler to equal share scheduler with the default time slice
length.
RmPVMRL=0x01

This example sets the vGPU scheduler to equal share scheduler with a time slice that is 3 ms
long.
RmPVMRL=0x00030001

This example sets the vGPU scheduler to fixed share scheduler with the default time slice
length.
RmPVMRL=0x11

This example sets the vGPU scheduler to fixed share scheduler with a time slice that is 24
(0x18) ms long.
RmPVMRL=0x00180011

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 Changing Scheduling Behavior for Time-Sliced vGPUs

8.4. Getting the Current Time-Sliced

vGPU Scheduling Behavior for All
GPUs
Get the current scheduling behavior before changing the scheduling behavior of one or more
GPUs to determine if you need to change it or after changing it to confirm the change.
Perform this task in your hypervisor command shell.

1. Open a command shell on your hypervisor host machine.

On all supported hypervisors, you can use secure shell (SSH) for this purpose. Individual
hypervisors may provide additional means for logging in. For details, refer to the
documentation for your hypervisor.
2. Use the dmesg command to display messages from the kernel that contain the strings
NVRM and scheduler.
$ dmesg | grep NVRM | grep scheduler

The scheduling behavior is indicated in these messages by the following strings:

NONE
Best effort
VGPU_RELATIVE
Equal share
PGPU_SHARE
Fixed share
If the scheduling behavior is equal share or fixed share, the scheduler time slice in ms is
also displayed.
This example gets the scheduling behavior of the GPUs in a system in which the behavior
of one GPU is set to best effort, one GPU is set to equal share, and one GPU is set to fixed
share.
$ dmesg | grep NVRM | grep scheduler
2020-10-05T02:58:08.928Z cpu79:2100753)NVRM: GPU at 0000:3d:00.0 has software
scheduler DISABLED with policy NONE.
2020-10-05T02:58:09.818Z cpu79:2100753)NVRM: GPU at 0000:5e:00.0 has software
scheduler ENABLED with policy VGPU_RELATIVE.
NVRM: Software scheduler timeslice set to 1 ms.
2020-10-05T02:58:12.115Z cpu79:2100753)NVRM: GPU at 0000:88:00.0 has software
scheduler ENABLED with policy PGPU_SHARE.
NVRM: Software scheduler timeslice set to 1 ms.

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 Changing Scheduling Behavior for Time-Sliced vGPUs

8.5. Changing the Time-Sliced vGPU

Scheduling Behavior for All GPUs
Note: You can change the vGPU scheduling behavior only on GPUs that support multiple vGPU
schedulers, that is, GPUs based on NVIDIA GPU architectures after the Maxwell architecture.

Perform this task in your hypervisor command shell.

1. Open a command shell as the root user on your hypervisor host machine.
On all supported hypervisors, you can use secure shell (SSH) for this purpose. Individual
hypervisors may provide additional means for logging in. For details, refer to the
documentation for your hypervisor.
2. Set the RmPVMRL registry key to the value that sets the GPU scheduling policy and the
length of the time slice that you want.

‣ On Citrix Hypervisor, Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, or Red Hat Virtualization (RHV),
add the following entry to the /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf file.
options nvidia NVreg_RegistryDwords="RmPVMRL=value"

If the /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf file does not already exist, create it.

‣ On VMware vSphere, use the esxcli set command.
# esxcli system module parameters set -m nvidia -p
"NVreg_RegistryDwords=RmPVMRL=value"

value
The value that sets the GPU scheduling policy and the length of the time slice that you
want, for example:
0x01
Sets the vGPU scheduling policy to equal share scheduler with the default time slice
length.
0x00030001
Sets the GPU scheduling policy to equal share scheduler with a time slice that is 3
ms long.
0x11
Sets the vGPU scheduling policy to fixed share scheduler with the default time slice
length.
0x00180011
Sets the GPU scheduling policy to fixed share scheduler with a time slice that is 24
(0x18) ms long.
For all supported values, see RmPVMRL Registry Key.
3. Reboot your hypervisor host machine.

Confirm that the scheduling behavior was changed as required as explained in Getting the
Current Time-Sliced vGPU Scheduling Behavior for All GPUs.

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 Changing Scheduling Behavior for Time-Sliced vGPUs

8.6. Changing the Time-Sliced vGPU

Scheduling Behavior for Select GPUs
Note: You can change the vGPU scheduling behavior only on GPUs that support multiple vGPU
schedulers, that is, GPUs based on NVIDIA GPU architectures after the Maxwell architecture.

Perform this task in your hypervisor command shell.

1. Open a command shell as the root user on your hypervisor host machine.
On all supported hypervisors, you can use secure shell (SSH) for this purpose. Individual
hypervisors may provide additional means for logging in. For details, refer to the
documentation for your hypervisor.
2. Use the lspci command to obtain the PCI domain and bus/device/function (BDF) of each
GPU for which you want to change the scheduling behavior.

‣ On Citrix Hypervisor, Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, or Red Hat Virtualization (RHV),
add the -D option to display the PCI domain and the -d 10de: option to display
information only for NVIDIA GPUs.
# lspci -D -d 10de:
‣ On VMware vSphere, pipe the output of lspci to the grep command to display
information only for NVIDIA GPUs.
# lspci | grep NVIDIA

The NVIDIA GPU listed in this example has the PCI domain 0000 and BDF 86:00.0.
0000:86:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP104GL [Tesla P4] (rev a1)
3. Use the module parameter NVreg_RegistryDwordsPerDevice to set the pci and
RmPVMRL registry keys for each GPU.

‣ On Citrix Hypervisor, Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, or RHV, add the following entry to
the /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf file.
options nvidia NVreg_RegistryDwordsPerDevice="pci=pci-domain:pci-
bdf;RmPVMRL=value
[;pci=pci-domain:pci-bdf;RmPVMRL=value...]"

If the /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf file does not already exist, create it.

‣ On VMware vSphere, use the esxcli set command.
# esxcli system module parameters set -m nvidia \
-p "NVreg_RegistryDwordsPerDevice=pci=pci-domain:pci-bdf;RmPVMRL=value\
[;pci=pci-domain:pci-bdf;RmPVMRL=value...]"

For each GPU, provide the following information:

pci-domain
The PCI domain of the GPU.
pci-bdf
The PCI device BDF of the GPU.

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 Changing Scheduling Behavior for Time-Sliced vGPUs

value
The value that sets the GPU scheduling policy and the length of the time slice that you
want, for example:
0x01
Sets the GPU scheduling policy to equal share scheduler with the default time slice
length.
0x00030001
Sets the GPU scheduling policy to equal share scheduler with a time slice that is 3
ms long.
0x11
Sets the GPU scheduling policy to fixed share scheduler with the default time slice
length.
0x00180011
Sets the GPU scheduling policy to fixed share scheduler with a time slice that is 24
(0x18) ms long.
For all supported values, see RmPVMRL Registry Key.
This example adds an entry to the /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf file to change the
scheduling behavior of a single GPU. The entry sets the GPU scheduling policy of the GPU
at PCI domain 0000 and BDF 86:00.0 to fixed share scheduler with the default time slice
length.
options nvidia NVreg_RegistryDwordsPerDevice=
"pci=0000:86:00.0;RmPVMRL=0x11"

This example adds an entry to the /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf file to change the

scheduling behavior of a single GPU. The entry sets the scheduling policy of the GPU at PCI
domain 0000 and BDF 86:00.0 to fixed share scheduler with a time slice that is 24 (0x18)
ms long.
options nvidia NVreg_RegistryDwordsPerDevice=
"pci=0000:86:00.0;RmPVMRL=0x00180011"
4. Reboot your hypervisor host machine.

Confirm that the scheduling behavior was changed as required as explained in Getting the
Current Time-Sliced vGPU Scheduling Behavior for All GPUs.

8.7. Restoring Default Time-Sliced vGPU

Scheduler Settings
Perform this task in your hypervisor command shell.

1. Open a command shell as the root user on your hypervisor host machine.
On all supported hypervisors, you can use secure shell (SSH) for this purpose. Individual
hypervisors may provide additional means for logging in. For details, refer to the
documentation for your hypervisor.
2. Unset the RmPVMRL registry key.

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 Changing Scheduling Behavior for Time-Sliced vGPUs

‣ On Citrix Hypervisor, Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, or Red Hat Virtualization (RHV),
comment out the entries in the /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf file that set RmPVMRL
by prefixing each entry with the # character.
‣ On VMware vSphere, set the module parameter to an empty string.
# esxcli system module parameters set -m nvidia -p "module-parameter="
module-parameter
The module parameter to set, which depends on whether the scheduling behavior
was changed for all GPUs or select GPUs:

‣ For all GPUs, set the NVreg_RegistryDwords module parameter.

‣ For select GPUs, set the NVreg_RegistryDwordsPerDevice module
parameter.
For example, to restore default vGPU scheduler settings after they were changed for
all GPUs, enter this command:
# esxcli system module parameters set -m nvidia -p "NVreg_RegistryDwords="
3. Reboot your hypervisor host machine.

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Chapter 9. Troubleshooting

This chapter describes basic troubleshooting steps for NVIDIA vGPU on Citrix Hypervisor, Red
Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, Red Hat Virtualization (RHV), and VMware vSphere, and how to
collect debug information when filing a bug report.

9.1. Known issues

Before troubleshooting or filing a bug report, review the release notes that accompany each
driver release, for information about known issues with the current release, and potential
workarounds.

9.2. Troubleshooting steps

If a vGPU-enabled VM fails to start, or doesn’t display any output when it does start, follow
these steps to narrow down the probable cause.

9.2.1. Verifying the NVIDIA Kernel Driver Is Loaded

1. Use the command that your hypervisor provides to verify that the kernel driver is loaded:

‣ On Citrix Hypervisor, Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, and RHV, use lsmod:
[root@xenserver ~]# lsmod|grep nvidia
nvidia 9604895 84
i2c_core 20294 2 nvidia,i2c_i801
[root@xenserver ~]#
‣ On VMware vSphere, use vmkload_mod:
[root@esxi:~] vmkload_mod -l | grep nvidia
nvidia 5 8420
2. If the nvidia driver is not listed in the output, check dmesg for any load-time errors
reported by the driver (see Examining NVIDIA kernel driver output).
3. On Citrix Hypervisor, Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, and RHV, also use the rpm -q
command to verify that the NVIDIA GPU Manager package is correctly installed.
rpm -q vgpu-manager-rpm-package-name
vgpu-manager-rpm-package-name
The RPM package name of the NVIDIA GPU Manager package, for example NVIDIA-
vGPU-NVIDIA-vGPU-CitrixHypervisor-8.2-460.73.02 for Citrix Hypervisor.

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 Troubleshooting

This example verifies that the NVIDIA GPU Manager package for Citrix Hypervisor is
correctly installed.
[root@xenserver ~]# rpm –q NVIDIA-vGPU-NVIDIA-vGPU-CitrixHypervisor-8.2-460.73.02
[root@xenserver ~]#
If an existing NVIDIA GRID package is already installed and you don’t select the
upgrade (-U) option when installing a newer GRID package, the rpm command will
return many conflict errors.
Preparing packages for installation...
file /usr/bin/nvidia-smi from install of NVIDIA-vGPU-NVIDIA-vGPU-
CitrixHypervisor-8.2-460.73.02.x86_64 conflicts with file from package NVIDIA-
vGPU-xenserver-8.2-460.32.04.x86_64
file /usr/lib/libnvidia-ml.so from install of NVIDIA-vGPU-NVIDIA-vGPU-
CitrixHypervisor-8.2-460.73.02.x86_64 conflicts with file from package NVIDIA-
vGPU-xenserver-8.2-460.32.04.x86_64
...

9.2.2. Verifying that nvidia-smi works

If the NVIDIA kernel driver is correctly loaded on the physical GPU, run nvidia-smi and verify
that all physical GPUs not currently being used for GPU past-through are listed in the output.
For details on expected output, see NVIDIA System Management Interface nvidia-smi.
If nvidia-smi fails to report the expected output, check dmesg for NVIDIA kernel driver
messages.

9.2.3. Examining NVIDIA kernel driver output

Information and debug messages from the NVIDIA kernel driver are logged in kernel logs,
prefixed with NVRM or nvidia.
Run dmesg on Citrix Hypervisor, Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, RHV, and VMware vSphere and
check for the NVRM and nvidia prefixes:
[root@xenserver ~]# dmesg | grep -E "NVRM|nvidia"
[ 22.054928] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
[ 22.390414] NVRM: loading
[ 22.829226] nvidia 0000:04:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
[ 22.829236] nvidia 0000:04:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 32 (level, low) -> IRQ 32
[ 22.829240] NVRM: This PCI I/O region assigned to your NVIDIA device is invalid:
[ 22.829241] NVRM: BAR0 is 0M @ 0x0 (PCI:0000:00:04.0)
[ 22.829243] NVRM: The system BIOS may have misconfigured your GPU.

9.2.4. Examining NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager

Messages
Information and debug messages from the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager are logged to the
hypervisor’s log files, prefixed with vmiop.

9.2.4.1. Examining Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Manager

Messages
For Citrix Hypervisor, NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager messages are written to /var/log/
messages.

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 Troubleshooting

Look in the /var/log/messages file for the vmiop prefix:

[root@xenserver ~]# grep vmiop /var/log/messages
Apr 26 10:34:03 localhost vgpu-ll[25698]: notice: vmiop_log: gpu-pci-id :
0000:05:00.0
Apr 26 10:34:03 localhost vgpu-ll[25698]: notice: vmiop_log: vgpu_type : quadro
Apr 26 10:34:03 localhost vgpu-ll[25698]: notice: vmiop_log: Framebuffer: 0x74000000
Apr 26 10:34:03 localhost vgpu-ll[25698]: notice: vmiop_log: Virtual Device Id:
0xl3F2:0xll4E
Apr 26 10:34:03 localhost vgpu-ll[25698]: notice: vmiop_log: ######## vGPU Manager
Information: ########
Apr 26 10:34:03 localhost vgpu-ll[25698]: notice: vmiop_log: Driver
Version: 460.73.02
Apr 26 10:34:03 localhost vgpu-ll[25698]: notice: vmiop_log: Init frame copy engine:
syncing...
Apr 26 10:35:31 localhost vgpu-ll[25698]: notice: vmiop_log: ######## Guest NVIDIA
Driver Information: ########
Apr 26 10:35:31 localhost vgpu-ll[25698]: notice: vmiop_log: Driver Version: 462.31
Apr 26 10:35:36 localhost vgpu-ll[25698]: notice: vmiop_log: Current max guest pfn =
0xllbc84!
Apr 26 10:35:40 localhost vgpu-ll[25698]: notice: vmiop_log: Current max guest pfn =
0xlleff0!
[root@xenserver ~]#

9.2.4.2. Examining Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM vGPU

Manager Messages
For Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM and RHV, NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager messages are
written to /var/log/messages.
Look in these files for the vmiop_log: prefix:
# grep vmiop_log: /var/log/messages
[2021-04-23 04:46:12] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 04:46:12] notice: vmiop-env:
guest_max_gpfn:0x11f7ff
[2021-04-23 04:46:12] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 04:46:12] notice: pluginconfig: /usr/
share/nvidia/vgx/grid_m60-1q.conf,gpu-pci-id=0000:06:00.0
[2021-04-23 04:46:12] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 04:46:12] notice: Loading Plugin0:
libnvidia-vgpu
[2021-04-23 04:46:12] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 04:46:12] notice: Successfully update
the env symbols!
[2021-04-23 04:46:12] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 04:46:12] notice: vmiop_log: gpu-pci-
id : 0000:06:00.0
[2021-04-23 04:46:12] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 04:46:12] notice: vmiop_log:
vgpu_type : quadro
[2021-04-23 04:46:12] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 04:46:12] notice: vmiop_log:
Framebuffer: 0x38000000
[2021-04-23 04:46:12] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 04:46:12] notice: vmiop_log: Virtual
Device Id: 0x13F2:0x114D
[2021-04-23 04:46:12] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 04:46:12] notice: vmiop_log: ########
vGPU Manager Information: ########
[2021-04-23 04:46:12] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 04:46:12] notice: vmiop_log: Driver
Version: 460.73.02
[2021-04-23 04:46:12] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 04:46:12] notice: vmiop_log: Init frame
copy engine: syncing...
[2021-04-23 05:09:14] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 05:09:14] notice: vmiop_log: ########
Guest NVIDIA Driver Information: ########
[2021-04-23 05:09:14] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 05:09:14] notice: vmiop_log: Driver
Version: 462.31
[2021-04-23 05:09:14] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 05:09:14] notice: vmiop_log: Current
max guest pfn = 0x11a71f!
[2021-04-23 05:12:09] vmiop_log: [2021-04-23 05:12:09] notice: vmiop_log: vGPU
license state: (0x00000001)
#

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 Troubleshooting

9.2.4.3. Examining VMware vSphere vGPU Manager

Messages
For VMware vSphere, NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager messages are written to the vmware.log
file in the guest VM’s storage directory.
Look in the vmware.log file for the vmiop prefix:
[root@esxi:~] grep vmiop /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/win7-vgpu-test1/vmware.log
2021-04-23T14:02:21.275Z| vmx| I120: DICT pciPassthru0.virtualDev = "vmiop"
2021-04-23T14:02:21.344Z| vmx| I120: GetPluginPath testing /usr/lib64/vmware/plugin/
libvmx-vmiop.so
2021-04-23T14:02:21.344Z| vmx| I120: PluginLdr_LoadShared: Loaded shared plugin
libvmx-vmiop.so from /usr/lib64/vmware/plugin/libvmx-vmiop.so
2021-04-23T14:02:21.344Z| vmx| I120: VMIOP: Loaded plugin libvmx-
vmiop.so:VMIOP_InitModule
2021-04-23T14:02:21.359Z| vmx| I120: VMIOP: Initializing plugin vmiop-display
2021-04-23T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: gpu-pci-id : 0000:04:00.0
2021-04-23T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: vgpu_type : quadro
2021-04-23T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: Framebuffer: 0x74000000
2021-04-23T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: Virtual Device Id: 0x11B0:0x101B
2021-04-23T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: ######## vGPU Manager Information:
########
2021-04-23T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: Driver Version: 460.73.02
2021-04-23T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: VGX Version: 12.2
2021-04-23T14:02:21.445Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: Init frame copy engine: syncing...
2021-04-23T14:02:37.031Z| vthread-12| I120: vmiop_log: ######## Guest NVIDIA Driver
Information: ########
2021-04-23T14:02:37.031Z| vthread-12| I120: vmiop_log: Driver Version: 462.31
2021-04-23T14:02:37.031Z| vthread-12| I120: vmiop_log: VGX Version: 12.2
2021-04-23T14:02:37.093Z| vthread-12| I120: vmiop_log: Clearing BAR1 mapping
2021-04-26T23:39:55.726Z| vmx| I120: VMIOP: Shutting down plugin vmiop-display
[root@esxi:~]

9.3. Capturing configuration data for filing

a bug report
When filing a bug report with NVIDIA, capture relevant configuration data from the platform
exhibiting the bug in one of the following ways:

‣ On any supported hypervisor, run nvidia-bug-report.sh.

‣ On Citrix Citrix Hypervisor, create a Citrix Hypervisor server status report.

9.3.1. Capturing configuration data by running

nvidia-bug-report.sh
The nvidia-bug-report.sh script captures debug information into a gzip-compressed log
file on the server.
Run nvidia-bug-report.sh from the Citrix Hypervisor dom0 shell, the Red Hat Enterprise
Linux KVM host shell, the Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) host shell, or the VMware ESXi host
shell.

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 Troubleshooting

This example runs nvidia-bug-report.sh on Citrix Hypervisor, but the procedure is the
same on Red Hat Enterprise Linux KVM, RHV, or VMware vSphere ESXi.
[root@xenserver ~]# nvidia-bug-report.sh

nvidia-bug-report.sh will now collect information about your

system and create the file 'nvidia-bug-report.log.gz' in the current
directory. It may take several seconds to run. In some
cases, it may hang trying to capture data generated dynamically
by the Linux kernel and/or the NVIDIA kernel module. While
the bug report log file will be incomplete if this happens, it
may still contain enough data to diagnose your problem.

For Xen open source/XCP users, if you are reporting a domain issue,
please run: nvidia-bug-report.sh --domain-name <"domain_name">

Please include the 'nvidia-bug-report.log.gz' log file when reporting

your bug via the NVIDIA Linux forum (see devtalk.nvidia.com)
or by sending email to 'linux-bugs@nvidia.com'.

Running nvidia-bug-report.sh...

If the bug report script hangs after this point consider running with
--safe-mode command line argument.

complete

[root@xenserver ~]#

9.3.2. Capturing Configuration Data by Creating a

Citrix Hypervisor Status Report
1. In XenCenter, from the Tools menu, choose Server Status Report.
2. Select the Citrix Hypervisor instance from which you want to collect a status report.
3. Select the data to include in the report.
4. To include NVIDIA vGPU debug information, select NVIDIA-logs in the Report Content Item
list.
5. Generate the report.

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 Troubleshooting

Figure 32. Including NVIDIA logs in a Citrix Hypervisor status report

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 136

Appendix A. Virtual GPU Types
Reference

A.1. Virtual GPU Types for Supported

GPUs
NVIDIA vGPU is available as a licensed product on supported NVIDIA GPUs. For a list of
recommended server platforms and supported GPUs, consult the release notes for supported
hypervisors at NVIDIA Virtual GPU Software Documentation.

A.1.1. NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40GB Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1
This GPU supports MIG-backed virtual GPUs and time-sliced virtual GPUs.

MIG-Backed C-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40GB
Required license edition: vCS or vWS
For details of GPU instance profiles, see NVIDIA Multi-Instance GPU User Guide.

Frame Maximum Slices Compute Corresponding

Virtual GPU Intended Buffer vGPUs per per Instances GPU Instance
Type Use Case (MB) GPU vGPU per vGPU Profile
A100-7-40C Training 40960 1 7 7 MIG 7g.40gb
Workloads
A100-4-20C Training 20480 1 4 4 MIG 4g.20gb
Workloads
A100-3-20C Training 20480 2 3 3 MIG 3g.20gb
Workloads
A100-2-10C Training 10240 3 2 2 MIG 2g.10gb
Workloads

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Frame Maximum Slices Compute Corresponding

Virtual GPU Intended Buffer vGPUs per per Instances GPU Instance
Type Use Case (MB) GPU vGPU per vGPU Profile
A100-1-5C Inference 5120 7 1 1 MIG 1g.5gb
Workloads

Time-Sliced C-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40GB
Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
A100-40C 40960 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A100-20C 20480 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A100-10C 10240 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A100-8C 8192 5 5 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
A100-5C 5120 8 8 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
A100-4C 4096 10 10 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A.1.2. NVIDIA A100 HGX 40GB Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1
This GPU supports MIG-backed virtual GPUs and time-sliced virtual GPUs.

MIG-Backed C-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A100 HGX 40GB
Required license edition: vCS or vWS
For details of GPU instance profiles, see NVIDIA Multi-Instance GPU User Guide.

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Frame Maximum Slices Compute Corresponding

Virtual GPU Intended Buffer vGPUs per per Instances GPU Instance
Type Use Case (MB) GPU vGPU per vGPU Profile
A100X-7-40C Training 40960 1 7 7 MIG 7g.40gb
Workloads
A100X-4-20C Training 20480 1 4 4 MIG 4g.20gb
Workloads
A100X-3-20C Training 20480 2 3 3 MIG 3g.20gb
Workloads
A100X-2-10C Training 10240 3 2 2 MIG 2g.10gb
Workloads
A100X-1-5C Inference 5120 7 1 1 MIG 1g.5gb
Workloads

Time-Sliced C-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A100 HGX 40GB
Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
A100X-40C 40960 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A100X-20C 20480 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A100X-10C 10240 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A100X-8C 8192 5 5 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
A100X-5C 5120 8 8 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
A100X-4C 4096 10 10 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A.1.3. NVIDIA A100 HGX 80GB Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

This GPU supports MIG-backed virtual GPUs and time-sliced virtual GPUs.

MIG-Backed C-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A100 HGX 80GB
Required license edition: vCS or vWS
For details of GPU instance profiles, see NVIDIA Multi-Instance GPU User Guide.

Frame Maximum Slices Compute Corresponding

Virtual GPU Intended Buffer vGPUs per per Instances GPU Instance
Type Use Case (MB) GPU vGPU per vGPU Profile
A100DX-7-80C Training 81920 1 7 7 MIG 7g.80gb
Workloads
A100DX-4-40C Training 40960 1 4 4 MIG 4g.40gb
Workloads
A100DX-3-40C Training 40960 2 3 3 MIG 3g.40gb
Workloads
A100DX-2-20C Training 20480 3 2 2 MIG 2g.20gb
Workloads
A100DX-1-10C Training 10240 7 1 1 MIG 1g.10gb
Workloads

Time-Sliced C-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A100 HGX 80GB
Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
A100DX-80C 81920 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A100DX-40C 40960 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A100DX-20C 20480 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
A100DX-16C 16384 5 5 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A100DX-10C 10240 8 8 4096×21602 1
Workloads

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
A100DX-8C 8192 10 10 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
A100DX-4C 4096 20 20 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A.1.4. NVIDIA A40 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A40

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
A40-48Q 49152 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
A40-24Q 24576 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
A40-16Q 16384 3 3 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
A40-12Q 12288 4 4 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
Virtual
A40-8Q 8192 6 6 66355200 7680×4320 2
Workstations

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
A40-6Q 6144 8 8 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
A40-4Q 4096 12 12 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
A40-3Q 3072 16 16 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
A40-2Q 2048 24 24 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual 9
A40-1Q 1024 32 32 17694720 3840×2160 2
Workstations
2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A40

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

7
The maximum vGPUs per GPU is limited to 32.

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
A40-2B 2048 24 24 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
A40-1B 1024 32 32 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A40

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
A40-48C 49152 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A40-24C 24576 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A40-16C 16384 3 3 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A40-12C 12288 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A40-8C 8192 6 6 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A40-6C 6144 8 8 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
A40-4C 4096 83 12 4096×21602 1
Workloads

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A40

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
A40-48A 49152 1 1 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A40-24A 24576 2 2 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A40-16A 16384 3 3 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A40-12A 12288 4 4 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A40-8A 8192 6 6 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A40-6A 6144 8 8 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A40-4A 4096 12 12 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A40-3A 3072 16 16 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A40-2A 2048 24 24 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A40-1A 1024 329 32 1280×1024 1
Applications

A.1.5. NVIDIA A10 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A10

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
A10-24Q 24576 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
A10-12Q 12288 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
A10-8Q 8192 3 3 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
A10-6Q 6144 4 4 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
A10-4Q 4096 6 6 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
A10-3Q 3072 8 8 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
A10-2Q 2048 12 12 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
A10-1Q 1024 24 24 17694720 3840×2160 2
Workstations
2560×1600 or
4
lower

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A10

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
A10-2B 2048 12 12 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
A10-1B 1024 24 24 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A10

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
A10-24C 24576 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A10-12C 12288 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
A10-8C 8192 3 3 4096×21602 1
Workloads

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Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
A10-6C 6144 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
A10-4C 4096 6 6 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA A10

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
A10-24A 24576 1 1 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A10-12A 12288 2 2 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A10-8A 8192 3 3 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A10-6A 6144 4 4 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A10-4A 4096 6 6 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A10-3A 3072 8 8 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A10-2A 2048 12 12 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
A10-1A 1024 24 24 1280×1024 1
Applications

A.1.6. NVIDIA RTX A6000 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA RTX A6000

Required license edition: vWS

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These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTXA6000-48Q 49152 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTXA6000-24Q 24576 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTXA6000-16Q 16384 3 3 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTXA6000-12Q 12288 4 4 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTXA6000-8Q 8192 6 6 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
RTXA6000-6Q 6144 8 8 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
RTXA6000-4Q 4096 12 12 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
RTXA6000-3Q 3072 16 16 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower

Virtual 7680×4320 1
RTXA6000-2Q 2048 24 24 35389440
Workstations 5120×2880 2

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual 9
RTXA6000-1Q 1024 32 32 17694720 3840×2160 2
Workstations
2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA RTX A6000

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
RTXA6000-2B 2048 24 24 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
RTXA6000-1B 1024 32 32 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

8
The maximum vGPUs per GPU is limited to 32.

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C-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA RTX A6000

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
RTXA6000-48C 49152 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTXA6000-24C 24576 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTXA6000-16C 16384 3 3 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTXA6000-12C 12288 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTXA6000-8C 8192 6 6 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTXA6000-6C 6144 8 8 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
RTXA6000-4C 4096 83 12 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA RTX A6000

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
RTXA6000-48A 49152 1 1 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA6000-24A 24576 2 2 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA6000-16A 16384 3 3 1280×1024 1
Applications

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Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
RTXA6000-12A 12288 4 4 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA6000-8A 8192 6 6 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA6000-6A 6144 8 8 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA6000-4A 4096 12 12 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA6000-3A 3072 16 16 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA6000-2A 2048 24 24 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA6000-1A 1024 329 32 1280×1024 1
Applications

A.1.7. NVIDIA RTX A5000 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA RTX A5000

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTXA5000-24Q 24576 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTXA5000-12Q 12288 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTXA5000-8Q 8192 3 3 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
RTXA5000-6Q 6144 4 4 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
RTXA5000-4Q 4096 6 6 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
RTXA5000-3Q 3072 8 8 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
RTXA5000-2Q 2048 12 12 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
RTXA5000-1Q 1024 24 24 17694720 3840×2160 2
Workstations
2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA RTX A5000

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
RTXA5000-2B 2048 12 12 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
RTXA5000-1B 1024 24 24 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA RTX A5000

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
RTXA5000-24C 24576 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTXA5000-12C 12288 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTXA5000-8C 8192 3 3 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTXA5000-6C 6144 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
RTXA5000-4C 4096 6 6 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for NVIDIA RTX A5000

Required license edition: vApps

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
RTXA5000-24A 24576 1 1 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA5000-12A 12288 2 2 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA5000-8A 8192 3 3 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA5000-6A 6144 4 4 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA5000-4A 4096 6 6 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA5000-3A 3072 8 8 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA5000-2A 2048 12 12 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTXA5000-1A 1024 24 24 1280×1024 1
Applications

A.1.8. Tesla M60 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 2

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla M60

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 2
Virtual
M60-8Q 8192 1 2 35389440 4096×2160 or
Workstations 4
lower
5120×2880 2
Virtual
M60-4Q 4096 2 4 35389440 4096×2160 or
Workstations 4
lower
5120×2880 2
Virtual
M60-2Q 2048 4 8 35389440 4096×2160 or
Workstations 4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
M60-1Q 1024 8 16 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower
Virtual
Desktops,
M60-0Q 512 16 32 8192000 2560×1600 21
Virtual
Workstations

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla M60

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
Virtual 5120×2880 1
M60-2B 2048 4 8 17694720
Desktops 4096×2160 2

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
3840×2160 2
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
4
Virtual
M60-2B4 2048 4 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
M60-1B 1024 8 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
4
Virtual
M60-1B4 1024 8 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower
Virtual
M60-0B 512 16 32 8192000 2560×1600 21
Desktops

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla M60

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
M60-8A 8192 1 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
M60-4A 4096 2 4 1280×10246 16
Applications

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Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
M60-2A 2048 4 8 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
M60-1A 1024 8 16 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.9. Tesla M10 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 4

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla M10

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 2
Virtual
M10-8Q 8192 1 4 35389440 4096×2160 or
Workstations 4
lower
5120×2880 2
Virtual
M10-4Q 4096 2 8 35389440 4096×2160 or
Workstations 4
lower
5120×2880 2
Virtual
M10-2Q 2048 4 16 35389440 4096×2160 or
Workstations 4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
M10-1Q 1024 8 32 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
Virtual
Desktops,
M10-0Q 512 16 64 8192000 2560×1600 21
Virtual
Workstations

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla M10

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
M10-2B 2048 4 16 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
4
Virtual
M10-2B4 2048 4 16 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
M10-1B 1024 8 32 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

M10-1B44 1024 8 32 16384000 5120×2880 1

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
4096×2160 1
Virtual 3840×2160 1
Desktops 2560×1600 or
45
lower
Virtual
M10-0B 512 16 64 8192000 2560×1600 21
Desktops

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla M10

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
M10-8A 8192 1 4 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
M10-4A 4096 2 8 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
M10-2A 2048 4 16 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
M10-1A 1024 8 32 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.10. Tesla M6 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla M6

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 2
Virtual
M6-8Q 8192 1 1 35389440 4096×2160 or
Workstations 4
lower
5120×2880 2
Virtual
M6-4Q 4096 2 2 35389440 4096×2160 or
Workstations 4
lower
5120×2880 2
Virtual
M6-2Q 2048 4 4 35389440 4096×2160 or
Workstations 4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
M6-1Q 1024 8 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower
Virtual
Desktops,
M6-0Q 512 16 16 8192000 2560×1600 21
Virtual
Workstations

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla M6

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
Virtual 5120×2880 1
M6-2B 2048 4 4 17694720
Desktops 4096×2160 2

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
3840×2160 2
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
4
Virtual
M6-2B4 2048 4 4 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
M6-1B 1024 8 8 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
4
Virtual
M6-1B4 1024 8 8 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower
Virtual
M6-0B 512 16 16 8192000 2560×1600 21
Desktops

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla M6

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
M6-8A 8192 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
M6-4A 4096 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications

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Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
M6-2A 2048 4 4 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
M6-1A 1024 8 8 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.11. Tesla P100 PCIe 12GB Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P100 PCIe 12GB

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
P100C-12Q 12288 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
P100C-6Q 6144 2 2 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
P100C-4Q 4096 3 3 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
P100C-2Q 2048 6 6 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
P100C-1Q 1024 12 12 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P100 PCIe 12GB

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
P100C-2B 2048 6 6 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
4
Virtual
P100C-2B4 2048 6 6 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
P100C-1B 1024 12 12 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
4
Virtual
P100C-1B4 1024 12 12 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P100 PCIe 12GB

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
P100C-12C 12288 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
P100C-6C 6144 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
P100C-4C 4096 3 3 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P100 PCIe 12GB

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
P100C-12A 12288 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P100C-6A 6144 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P100C-4A 4096 3 3 1280×10246 16
Applications

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Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
P100C-2A 2048 6 6 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P100C-1A 1024 12 12 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.12. Tesla P100 PCIe 16GB Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P100 PCIe 16GB

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
P100-16Q 16384 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
P100-8Q 8192 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
P100-4Q 4096 4 4 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
P100-2Q 2048 8 8 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
P100-1Q 1024 16 16 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P100 PCIe 16GB

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
P100-2B 2048 8 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
4
Virtual
P100-2B4 2048 8 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
P100-1B 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
4
Virtual
P100-1B4 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P100 PCIe 16GB

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
P100-16C 16384 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
P100-8C 8192 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
P100-4C 4096 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P100 PCIe 16GB

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
P100-16A 16384 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P100-8A 8192 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P100-4A 4096 4 4 1280×10246 16
Applications

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
P100-2A 2048 8 8 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P100-1A 1024 16 16 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.13. Tesla P100 SXM2 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P100 SXM2

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
P100X-16Q 16384 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
P100X-8Q 8192 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
P100X-4Q 4096 4 4 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
P100X-2Q 2048 8 8 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
P100X-1Q 1024 16 16 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P100 SXM2

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
P100X-2B 2048 8 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
4
Virtual
P100X-2B4 2048 8 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
P100X-1B 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 169

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
4
Virtual
P100X-1B4 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P100 SXM2

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
P100X-16C 16384 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
P100X-8C 8192 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
P100X-4C 4096 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P100 SXM2

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
P100X-16A 16384 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P100X-8A 8192 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P100X-4A 4096 4 4 1280×10246 16
Applications

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 170

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
P100X-2A 2048 8 8 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P100X-1A 1024 16 16 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.14. Tesla P40 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P40

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
P40-24Q 24576 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
P40-12Q 12288 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
P40-8Q 8192 3 3 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
P40-6Q 6144 4 4 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
Virtual
P40-4Q 4096 6 6 58982400 7680×4320 1
Workstations

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
P40-3Q 3072 8 8 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
P40-2Q 2048 12 12 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
P40-1Q 1024 24 24 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P40

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
P40-2B 2048 12 12 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
4
Virtual
P40-2B4 2048 12 12 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
P40-1B 1024 24 24 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
P40-1B44 1024 24 24 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P40

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
P40-24C 24576 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
P40-12C 12288 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
P40-8C 8192 3 3 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
P40-6C 6144 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 173

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Inference
P40-4C 4096 6 6 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P40

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
P40-24A 24576 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P40-12A 12288 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P40-8A 8192 3 3 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P40-6A 6144 4 4 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P40-4A 4096 6 6 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P40-3A 3072 8 8 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P40-2A 2048 12 12 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P40-1A 1024 24 24 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.15. Tesla P6 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P6

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 174

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
P6-16Q 16384 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
P6-8Q 8192 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
P6-4Q 4096 4 4 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
P6-2Q 2048 8 8 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
P6-1Q 1024 16 16 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P6

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 175

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
P6-2B 2048 8 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
P6-2B44 2048 8 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
P6-1B 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
P6-1B44 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P6

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
P6-16C 16384 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
P6-8C 8192 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Inference
P6-4C 4096 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P6

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
P6-16A 16384 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P6-8A 8192 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P6-4A 4096 4 4 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P6-2A 2048 8 8 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P6-1A 1024 16 16 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.16. Tesla P4 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P4

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 177

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
P4-8Q 8192 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
P4-4Q 4096 2 2 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
P4-2Q 2048 4 4 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
P4-1Q 1024 8 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P4

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
P4-2B 2048 4 4 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
4
Virtual
P4-2B4 2048 4 4 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
P4-1B 1024 8 8 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
P4-1B44 1024 8 8 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P4

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
P4-8C 8192 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
P4-4C 4096 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla P4

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 179

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
P4-8A 8192 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P4-4A 4096 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P4-2A 2048 4 4 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
P4-1A 1024 8 8 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.17. Tesla T4 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla T4

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
T4-16Q 16384 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
T4-8Q 8192 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
T4-4Q 4096 4 4 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 180

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
T4-2Q 2048 8 8 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
T4-1Q 1024 16 16 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla T4

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
T4-2B 2048 8 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
4
Virtual
T4-2B4 2048 8 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 181

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
T4-1B 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
T4-1B44 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla T4

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
T4-16C 16384 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
T4-8C 8192 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
T4-4C 4096 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla T4

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 182

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
T4-16A 16384 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
T4-8A 8192 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
T4-4A 4096 4 4 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
T4-2A 2048 8 8 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
T4-1A 1024 16 16 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.18. Tesla V100 SXM2 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 SXM2

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
V100X-16Q 16384 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
V100X-8Q 8192 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
Virtual
V100X-4Q 4096 4 4 58982400 7680×4320 1
Workstations

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 183

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
V100X-2Q 2048 8 8 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
V100X-1Q 1024 16 16 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 SXM2

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
V100X-2B 2048 8 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
V100X-2B44 2048 8 8 17694720 4096×2160 2
Desktops
3840×2160 2

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 184

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
V100X-1B 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
4
Virtual
V100X-1B4 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 SXM2

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
V100X-16C 16384 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
V100X-8C 8192 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
V100X-4C 4096 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 SXM2

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 185

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
V100X-16A 16384 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100X-8A 8192 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100X-4A 4096 4 4 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100X-2A 2048 8 8 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100X-1A 1024 16 16 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.19. Tesla V100 SXM2 32GB Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 SXM2 32GB

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
V100DX-32Q 32768 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
V100DX-16Q 16384 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
Virtual
V100DX-8Q 8192 4 4 66355200 7680×4320 2
Workstations

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 186

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
V100DX-4Q 4096 8 8 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
V100DX-2Q 2048 16 16 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
V100DX-1Q 1024 32 32 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 SXM2 32GB

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
V100DX-2B 2048 16 16 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower

V100DX-2B44 2048 16 16 17694720 5120×2880 1

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 187

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
4096×2160 2
Virtual 3840×2160 2
Desktops 2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
V100DX-1B 1024 32 32 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
4
Virtual
V100DX-1B4 1024 32 32 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 SXM2 32GB

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
V100DX-32C 32768 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
V100DX-16C 16384 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
V100DX-8C 8192 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
V100DX-4C 4096 8 8 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 SXM2 32GB

Required license edition: vApps

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 188

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
V100DX-32A 32768 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100DX-16A 16384 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100DX-8A 8192 4 4 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100DX-4A 4096 8 8 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100DX-2A 2048 16 16 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100DX-1A 1024 32 32 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.20. Tesla V100 PCIe Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 PCIe

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
V100-16Q 16384 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
Virtual
V100-8Q 8192 2 2 66355200 7680×4320 2
Workstations

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 189

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
V100-4Q 4096 4 4 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
V100-2Q 2048 8 8 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
V100-1Q 1024 16 16 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 PCIe

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
V100-2B 2048 8 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower

V100-2B44 2048 8 8 17694720 5120×2880 1

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 190

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
4096×2160 2
Virtual 3840×2160 2
Desktops 2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
V100-1B 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
4
Virtual
V100-1B4 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 PCIe

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
V100-16C 16384 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
V100-8C 8192 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
V100-4C 4096 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 PCIe

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 191

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
V100-16A 16384 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100-8A 8192 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100-4A 4096 4 4 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100-2A 2048 8 8 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100-1A 1024 16 16 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.21. Tesla V100 PCIe 32GB Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 PCIe 32GB

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
V100D-32Q 32768 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
V100D-16Q 16384 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
Virtual
V100D-8Q 8192 4 4 66355200 7680×4320 2
Workstations

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 192

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
V100D-4Q 4096 8 8 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
V100D-2Q 2048 16 16 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
V100D-1Q 1024 32 32 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 PCIe 32GB

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
V100D-2B 2048 16 16 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower

V100D-2B44 2048 16 16 17694720 5120×2880 1

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 193

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
4096×2160 2
Virtual 3840×2160 2
Desktops 2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
V100D-1B 1024 32 32 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
4
Virtual
V100D-1B4 1024 32 32 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 PCIe 32GB

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
V100D-32C 32768 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
V100D-16C 16384 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
V100D-8C 8192 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
V100D-4C 4096 8 8 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 PCIe 32GB

Required license edition: vApps

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 194

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
V100D-32A 32768 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100D-16A 16384 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100D-8A 8192 4 4 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100D-4A 4096 8 8 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100D-2A 2048 16 16 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100D-1A 1024 32 32 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.22. Tesla V100S PCIe 32GB Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100S PCIe 32GB

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
V100S-32Q 32768 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
Virtual
V100S-16Q 16384 2 2 66355200 7680×4320 2
Workstations

Virtual GPU Software DU-06920-001 _v12.0 through 12.2 | 195

 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 or
4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
V100S-8Q 8192 4 4 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
V100S-4Q 4096 8 8 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
V100S-2Q 2048 16 16 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
V100S-1Q 1024 32 32 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100S PCIe 32GB

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
Virtual
V100S-2B 2048 16 16 17694720 4096×2160 2
Desktops
3840×2160 2

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
V100S-1B 1024 32 32 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100S PCIe 32GB

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
V100S-32C 32768 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
V100S-16C 16384 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
V100S-8C 8192 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
V100S-4C 4096 8 8 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100S PCIe 32GB

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
V100S-32A 32768 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications

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Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
V100S-16A 16384 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100S-8A 8192 4 4 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100S-4A 4096 8 8 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100S-2A 2048 16 16 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100S-1A 1024 32 32 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.23. Tesla V100 FHHL Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 FHHL

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
V100L-16Q 16384 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
V100L-8Q 8192 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
Virtual
V100L-4Q 4096 4 4 58982400 7680×4320 1
Workstations

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
V100L-2Q 2048 8 8 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
4096×2160 2
Desktops,
V100L-1Q 1024 16 16 17694720 3840×2160 2
Virtual
Workstations 2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 FHHL

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
V100L-2B 2048 8 8 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
Virtual
V100L-2B44 2048 8 8 17694720 4096×2160 2
Desktops
3840×2160 2

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
V100L-1B 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
4
Virtual
V100L-1B4 1024 16 16 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 FHHL

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
V100L-16C 16384 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
V100L-8C 8192 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
V100L-4C 4096 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Tesla V100 FHHL

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

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Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
V100L-16A 16384 1 1 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100L-8A 8192 2 2 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100L-4A 4096 4 4 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100L-2A 2048 8 8 1280×10246 16
Applications
Virtual
V100L-1A 1024 16 16 1280×10246 16
Applications

A.1.24. Quadro RTX 8000 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 8000

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX8000-48Q 49152 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX8000-24Q 24576 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
Virtual
RTX8000-16Q 16384 3 3 66355200 7680×4320 2
Workstations

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 or
4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX8000-12Q 12288 4 4 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX8000-8Q 8192 6 6 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
RTX8000-6Q 6144 8 8 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
RTX8000-4Q 4096 12 12 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
RTX8000-3Q 3072 16 16 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
RTX8000-2Q 2048 24 24 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual 9
RTX8000-1Q 1024 32 32 17694720 3840×2160 2
Workstations
2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 8000

Required license edition: vPC or vWS

9
The maximum vGPUs per GPU is limited to 32.

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These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
RTX8000-2B 2048 24 24 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
RTX8000-1B 1024 32 32 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 8000

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
RTX8000-48C 49152 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX8000-24C 24576 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX8000-16C 16384 3 3 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX8000-12C 12288 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads

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Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
RTX8000-8C 8192 6 6 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX8000-6C 6144 8 8 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
RTX8000-4C 4096 83 12 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 8000

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
RTX8000-48A 49152 1 1 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000-24A 24576 2 2 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000-16A 16384 3 3 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000-12A 12288 4 4 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000-8A 8192 6 6 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000-6A 6144 8 8 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000-4A 4096 12 12 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000-3A 3072 16 16 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000-2A 2048 24 24 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000-1A 1024 329 32 1280×1024 1
Applications

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A.1.25. Quadro RTX 8000 Passive Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 8000 Passive

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX8000P-48Q 49152 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX8000P-24Q 24576 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX8000P-16Q 16384 3 3 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX8000P-12Q 12288 4 4 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX8000P-8Q 8192 6 6 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
RTX8000P-6Q 6144 8 8 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
RTX8000P-4Q 4096 12 12 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
RTX8000P-3Q 3072 16 16 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
RTX8000P-2Q 2048 24 24 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual 10
RTX8000P-1Q 1024 32 32 17694720 3840×2160 2
Workstations
2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 8000 Passive

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
RTX8000P-2B 2048 24 24 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower

10
The maximum vGPUs per GPU is limited to 32.

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Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
RTX8000P-1B 1024 32 32 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 8000 Passive

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
RTX8000P-48C 49152 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX8000P-24C 24576 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX8000P-16C 16384 3 3 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX8000P-12C 12288 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX8000P-8C 8192 6 6 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX8000P-6C 6144 8 8 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
RTX8000P-4C 4096 83 12 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 8000 Passive

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

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Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
RTX8000P-48A 49152 1 1 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000P-24A 24576 2 2 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000P-16A 16384 3 3 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000P-12A 12288 4 4 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000P-8A 8192 6 6 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000P-6A 6144 8 8 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000P-4A 4096 12 12 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000P-3A 3072 16 16 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000P-2A 2048 24 24 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX8000P-1A 1024 3210 32 1280×1024 1
Applications

A.1.26. Quadro RTX 6000 Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 6000

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX6000-24Q 24576 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX6000-12Q 12288 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX6000-8Q 8192 3 3 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
RTX6000-6Q 6144 4 4 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
RTX6000-4Q 4096 6 6 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
RTX6000-3Q 3072 8 8 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
RTX6000-2Q 2048 12 12 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
RTX6000-1Q 1024 24 24 17694720 3840×2160 2
Workstations
2560×1600 or
4
lower

B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 6000

Required license edition: vPC or vWS

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
RTX6000-2B 2048 12 12 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
RTX6000-1B 1024 24 24 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 6000

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
RTX6000-24C 24576 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX6000-12C 12288 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX6000-8C 8192 3 3 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX6000-6C 6144 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads

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Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Inference
RTX6000-4C 4096 6 6 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 6000

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
RTX6000-24A 24576 1 1 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000-12A 12288 2 2 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000-8A 8192 3 3 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000-6A 6144 4 4 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000-4A 4096 6 6 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000-3A 3072 8 8 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000-2A 2048 12 12 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000-1A 1024 24 24 1280×1024 1
Applications

A.1.27. Quadro RTX 6000 Passive Virtual GPU Types

Physical GPUs per board: 1

Q-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 6000 Passive

Required license edition: vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX6000P-24Q 24576 1 1 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX6000P-12Q 12288 2 2 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 2
Virtual
RTX6000P-8Q 8192 3 3 66355200 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
RTX6000P-6Q 6144 4 4 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual
RTX6000P-4Q 4096 6 6 58982400 5120×2880 or
Workstations 4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
RTX6000P-3Q 3072 8 8 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
7680×4320 1
Virtual 5120×2880 2
RTX6000P-2Q 2048 12 12 35389440
Workstations 4096×2160 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
RTX6000P-1Q 1024 24 24 17694720 3840×2160 2
Workstations
2560×1600 or
4
lower

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B-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 6000 Passive

Required license edition: vPC or vWS
These vGPU types support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available
pixels, which is determined by their frame buffer size. You can choose between using a small
number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these
vGPU types. The maximum number of displays per vGPU is based on a configuration in which
all displays have the same resolution. For examples of configurations with a mixture of display
resolutions, see Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series and Q-Series vGPUs.

Maximum Virtual
Frame Maximum
Virtual Intended vGPUs Available Display Displays
Buffer vGPUs
GPU Type Use Case per Pixels Resolution per
(MB) per GPU
Board vGPU
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 2
Virtual
RTX6000P-2B 2048 12 12 17694720 3840×2160 2
Desktops
2560×1600 or
4
lower
5120×2880 1
4096×2160 1
Virtual
RTX6000P-1B 1024 24 24 16384000 3840×2160 1
Desktops
2560×1600 or
45
lower

C-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 6000 Passive

Required license edition: vCS or vWS
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
RTX6000P-24C 24576 1 1 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX6000P-12C 12288 2 2 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Training
RTX6000P-8C 8192 3 3 4096×21602 1
Workloads

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Training
RTX6000P-6C 6144 4 4 4096×21602 1
Workloads
Inference
RTX6000P-4C 4096 6 6 4096×21602 1
Workloads

A-Series Virtual GPU Types for Quadro RTX 6000 Passive

Required license edition: vApps
These vGPU types support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution.

Virtual
Frame Maximum Maximum Maximum
Virtual Intended Displays
Buffer vGPUs vGPUs Display
GPU Type Use Case per
(MB) per GPU per Board Resolution
vGPU
Virtual
RTX6000P-24A 24576 1 1 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000P-12A 12288 2 2 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000P-8A 8192 3 3 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000P-6A 6144 4 4 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000P-4A 4096 6 6 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000P-3A 3072 8 8 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000P-2A 2048 12 12 1280×1024 1
Applications
Virtual
RTX6000P-1A 1024 24 24 1280×1024 1
Applications

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

A.2. Mixed Display Configurations for B-

Series and Q-Series vGPUs
A.2.1. Mixed Display Configurations for B-Series
vGPUs
Virtual
GPU Available Available Pixel Maximum
Type Pixels Basis Displays Sample Mixed Display Configurations
-2B 17694720 2 4096×2160 4 1 4096×2160 display plus 2 2560×1600
displays displays
-2B4 17694720 2 4096×2160 4 1 4096×2160 display plus 2 2560×1600
displays displays
-1B 16384000 4 2560×1600 4 1 4096×2160 display plus 1 2560×1600
displays display
-1B4 16384000 4 2560×1600 4 1 4096×2160 display plus 1 2560×1600
displays display
-0B 8192000 2 2560×1600 2 1 2560×1600 display plus 1 1280×1024
displays display

A.2.2. Mixed Display Configurations for Q-Series

vGPUs Based on the NVIDIA Maxwell
Architecture
Virtual
GPU Available Available Pixel Maximum
Type Pixels Basis Displays Sample Mixed Display Configurations
-8Q 35389440 4 4096×2160 4 1 5120×2880 display plus 2 4096×2160
displays displays
-4Q 35389440 4 4096×2160 4 1 5120×2880 display plus 2 4096×2160
displays displays
-2Q 35389440 4 4096×2160 4 1 5120×2880 display plus 2 4096×2160
displays displays
-1Q 17694720 2 4096×2160 4 1 4096×2160 display plus 2 2560×1600
displays displays
-0Q 8192000 2 2560×1600 2 1 2560×1600 display plus 1 1280×1024
displays display

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 Virtual GPU Types Reference

A.2.3. Mixed Display Configurations for Q-Series

vGPUs Based on Architectures after NVIDIA
Maxwell
Virtual
GPU Available Available Pixel Maximum
Type Pixels Basis Displays Sample Mixed Display Configurations
-8Q and 66355200 2 7680×4320 4 1 7680×4320 display plus 2 5120×2880
above displays displays
1 7680×4320 display plus 3 4096×2160
displays
-6Q 58982400 4 5120×2880 4 1 7680×4320 display plus 1 5120×2880
displays display
-4Q 58982400 4 5120×2880 4 1 7680×4320 display plus 1 5120×2880
displays display
-3Q 35389440 4 4096×2160 4 1 5120×2880 display plus 2 4096×2160
displays displays
-2Q 35389440 4 4096×2160 4 1 5120×2880 display plus 2 4096×2160
displays displays
-1Q 17694720 2 4096×2160 4 1 4096×2160 display plus 2 2560×1600
displays displays

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Appendix B. Allocation Strategies

Strategies for allocating physical hardware resources to VMs and vGPUs can improve the
performance of VMs running with NVIDIA vGPU. They include strategies for pinning VM CPU
cores to physical cores on Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) platforms, allocating VMs to
CPUs, and allocating vGPUs to physical GPUs. These allocation strategies are supported by
Citrix Hypervisor and VMware vSphere.

B.1. NUMA Considerations

Server platforms typically implement multiple CPU sockets, with system memory and PCI
Express expansion slots local to each CPU socket, as illustrated in Figure 33:

Figure 33. A NUMA Server Platform

These platforms are typically configured to operate in Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA)
mode; physical memory is arranged sequentially in the address space, with all the memory
attached to each socket appearing in a single contiguous block of addresses. The cost of
accessing a range of memory from a CPU or GPU varies; memory attached to the same
socket as the CPU or GPU is accessible at lower latency than memory on another CPU socket,
because accesses to remote memory must additionally traverse the interconnect between
CPU sockets.

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 Allocation Strategies

B.1.1. Obtaining Best Performance on a NUMA

Platform with Citrix Hypervisor
To obtain best performance on a NUMA platform, NVIDIA recommends pinning VM vCPU cores
to physical cores on the same CPU socket to which the physical GPU hosting the VM’s vGPU
is attached. For example, using as a reference, a VM with a vGPU allocated on physical GPU 0
or 1 should have its vCPUs pinned to CPU cores on CPU socket 0. Similarly, a VM with a vGPU
allocated on physical GPU 2 or 3 should have its vCPUs pinned to CPU cores on socket 1.
See Pinning VMs to a specific CPU socket and cores for guidance on pinning vCPUs, and
How GPU locality is determined for guidance on determining which CPU socket a GPU is
connected to. Controlling the vGPU types enabled on specific physical GPUs describes how
to precisely control which physical GPU is used to host a vGPU, by creating GPU groups for
specific physical GPUs.

B.1.2. Obtaining Best Performance on a NUMA

Platform with VMware vSphere ESXi
For some types of workloads or system configurations, you can optimize performance by
specifying the placement of VMs explicitly. For best performance, pin each VM to the NUMA
node to which the physical GPU hosting the VM’s vGPU is attached.
The following types of workloads and system configurations benefit from explicit placement of
VMs:

‣ Memory-intensive workloads, such as an in-memory database or an HPC application with

a large data set
‣ A hypervisor host configured with a small number of virtual machines
VMware vSphere ESXi provides the NUMA Node Affinity option for specifying the placement of
VMs explicitly. For general information about the options in VMware vSphere ESXi for NUMA
placement, see Specifying NUMA Controls in the VMware documentation.
Before setting the NUMA Node Affinity option, run the nvidia-smi topo -m command in the
ESXi host shell to determine the NUMA affinity of the GPU device.
After determining the NUMA affinity of the GPU device, set the NUMA Node Affinity option
as explained in Associate Virtual Machines with Specified NUMA Nodes in the VMware
documentation.

B.2. Maximizing Performance

To maximize performance as the number of vGPU-enabled VMs on the platform increases,
NVIDIA recommends adopting a breadth-first allocation: allocate new VMs on the least-
loaded CPU socket, and allocate the VM’s vGPU on an available, least-loaded, physical GPU
connected via that socket.

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 Allocation Strategies

Citrix Hypervisor and VMware vSphere ESXi use a different GPU allocation policy by default.

‣ Citrix Hypervisor creates GPU groups with a default allocation policy of depth-first.
See Modifying GPU Allocation Policy on Citrix Hypervisor for details on switching the
allocation policy to breadth-first.
‣ VMware vSphere ESXi creates GPU groups with a default allocation policy of breadth-first.
See Modifying GPU Allocation Policy on VMware vSphere for details on switching the
allocation policy to depth-first.

Note: Due to vGPU’s requirement that only one type of vGPU can run on a physical GPU at any
given time, not all physical GPUs may be available to host the vGPU type required by the new
VM.

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Appendix C. Configuring x11vnc for
Checking the GPU in a Linux
Server

x11vnc is a virtual network computing (VNC) server that provides remote access to an existing
X session with any VNC viewer. You can use x11vnc to confirm that the NVIDIA GPU in a Linux
server to which no display devices are directly connected is working as expected. Examples of
servers to which no display devices are directly connected include a VM that is configured with
NVIDIA vGPU, a VM that is configured with a pass-through GPU, and a headless physical host
in a bare-metal deployment.
Before you begin, ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

‣ The NVIDIA vGPU software software graphics driver for Linux is installed on the server.
‣ A secure shell (SSH) client is installed on your local system:
‣ On Windows, you must use a third-party SSH client such as PuTTY.
‣ On Linux, you can run the SSH client that is included with the OS from a shell or
terminal window.
Configuring x11vnc involves following the sequence of instructions in these sections:
1. Configuring the Xorg Server on the Linux Server
2. Installing and Configuring x11vnc on the Linux Server
3. Using a VNC Client to Connect to the Linux Server
After connecting to the server, you can use NVIDIA X Server Settings to confirm that the
NVIDIA GPU is working as expected.

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 Configuring x11vnc for Checking the GPU in a Linux Server

C.1. Configuring the Xorg Server on the

Linux Server
You must configure the Xorg server to specify which GPU or vGPU is to be used by the Xorg
server if multiple GPUs are installed in your server and to allow the Xorg server to start even if
no connected display devices can be detected.

1. Log in to the Linux server.

2. Determine the PCI bus identifier of the GPUs or vGPUs on the server.
# nvidia-xconfig --query-gpu-info
Number of GPUs: 1

GPU #0:
Name : GRID T4-2Q
UUID : GPU-ea80de2d-1dd8-11b2-8305-c955f034e718
PCI BusID : PCI:2:2:0

Number of Display Devices: 0

3. In a plain text editor, edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file to specify the GPU is to be used by
the Xorg server and allow the Xorg server to start even if no connected display devices can
be detected.
a). In the Device section, add the PCI bus identifier of GPU to be used by the Xorg server.
Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BusID "PCI:2:2:0"
EndSection

Note: The three numbers in the PCI BusID obtained by nvidia-xconfig in the
previous step are hexadecimal numbers. They must be converted to decimal numbers
in the PCI bus identifier in the Device section. For example, if the PCI bus identifier
obtained in the previous step is PCI:A:10:0, it must be specified as PCI:10:16:0 in
the PCI bus identifier in the Device section.

b). In the Screen section, ensure that the AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration option is

set to True.
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Option "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "True"
EndSection
4. Restart the Xorg server in one of the following ways:

‣ Restart the server.

‣ Run the startx command.
‣ If the Linux server is in run level 3, run the init 5 command to run the server in
graphical mode.
5. Confirm that the Xorg server is running.
# ps -ef | grep X

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 Configuring x11vnc for Checking the GPU in a Linux Server

On Ubuntu, this command displays output similar to the following example.

root 16500 16499 2 03:01 tty2 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg -nolisten
tcp :0 -auth /tmp/serverauth.s7CE4mMeIz
root 1140 1126 0 18:46 tty1 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg vt1 -displayfd
3 -auth /run/user/121/gdm/Xauthority -background none -noreset -keeptty -verbose
3
root 17011 17108 0 18:50 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --color=auto X

On Red Hat Enterprise Linux, this command displays output similar to the following
example.
root 5285 5181 0 16:29 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --color=auto X
root 5880 1 0 Jun13 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/abrt-watch-log -F
Backtrace /var/log/Xorg.0.log -- /usr/bin/abrt-dump-xorg -xD
root 7039 6289 0 Jun13 tty1 00:00:03 /usr/bin/X :0 -background none -
noreset -audit 4 -verbose -auth /run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-vr4MFC/database -seat seat0
vt1

C.2. Installing and Configuring x11vnc on

the Linux Server
Unlike other VNC servers, such as TigerVNC or Vino, x11vnc does not create an extra X session
for remote access. Instead, x11vnc provides remote access to the existing X session on the
Linux server.

1. Install the required x11vnc package and any dependent packages.

‣ For distributions based on Red Hat, use the yum package manager to install the
x11vnc package.
# yum install x11vnc
‣ For distributions based on Debian, use the apt package manager to install the x11vnc
package.
# sudo apt install x11vnc
‣ For SuSE Linux distributions, install x11vnc from the x11vnc openSUSE Software page.
2. Get the display numbers of the servers for the Xorg server.
# cat /proc/*/environ 2>/dev/null | tr '\0' '\n' | grep '^DISPLAY=:' | uniq
DISPLAY=:0
DISPLAY=:100
3. Start the x11vnc server, specifying the display number to use.
The following example starts the x11vnc server on display 0 on a Linux server that is
running the Gnome desktop.
# x11vnc -display :0 -auth /run/user/121/gdm/Xauthority -forever \
-shared -ncache -bg

Note: If you are using a C-series vGPU, omit the -ncache option.

The x11vnc server starts on display hostname:0, for example, my-linux-host:0.

26/03/20200 04:23:13
The VNC desktop is: my-linux-host:0
PORT=5900

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 Configuring x11vnc for Checking the GPU in a Linux Server

C.3. Using a VNC Client to Connect to the

Linux Server
1. On your client computer, install a VNC client such as TightVNC.
2. Start the VNC client and connect to the Linux server.

The X session on the server opens in the VNC client.

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 Configuring x11vnc for Checking the GPU in a Linux Server

Troubleshooting: If your VNC client cannot connect to the server, change permissions on the
Linux server as follows:
1. Allow the VNC client to connect to the server by making one of the following changes:

‣ Disable the firewall and the iptables service.

‣ Open the VNC port in the firewall.
2. Ensure that permissive mode is enabled for Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux).
After connecting to the server, you can use NVIDIA X Server Settings to confirm that the
NVIDIA GPU is working as expected.

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Appendix D. Disabling NVIDIA
Notification Icon for Citrix
Published Application User
Sessions

By default on Windows Server operating systems, the NVIDIA Notification Icon application is
started with every Citrix Published Application user session. This application might prevent the
Citrix Published Application user session from being logged off even after the user has quit all
other applications.
The NVIDIA Notification Icon application appears in Citrix Connection Center on the endpoint
client that is running Citrix Receiver or Citrix Workspace.
The following image shows the NVIDIA Notification Icon in Citrix Connection Center for a
user session in which the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC and Google Chrome applications are
published.

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 Disabling NVIDIA Notification Icon for Citrix Published Application User Sessions

Administrators can disable the NVIDIA Notification Icon application for all users' sessions
as explained in Disabling NVIDIA Notification Icon for All Users' Citrix Published Application
Sessions.
Individual users can disable the NVIDIA Notification Icon application for their own sessions
as explained in Disabling NVIDIA Notification Icon for your Citrix Published Application User
Sessions.

D.1. Disabling NVIDIA Notification Icon

for All Users' Citrix Published
Application Sessions
Administrators can set a registry key to disable the NVIDIA Notification Icon application for all
users' Citrix Published Application sessions on a VM. To ensure that the NVIDIA Notification

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 Disabling NVIDIA Notification Icon for Citrix Published Application User Sessions

Icon application is disabled on any virtual delivery agent (VDA) that is created from a master
image, set this key in the master image.
Perform this task from the VM on which the Citrix Published Application sessions will be
created.
Before you begin, ensure that the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver is installed in the VM.

1. Set the system-level StartOnLogin Windows registry key to 0.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\nvlddmkm\NvTray]
Value: "StartOnLogin"
Type: DWORD
Data: 00000000

The data value 0 disables the NVIDIA Notification Icon, and the data value 1 enables it.
2. Restart the VM.
You must restart the VM to ensure that the registry key is set before the NVIDIA service in
the user session starts.

D.2. Disabling NVIDIA Notification Icon

for your Citrix Published Application
User Sessions
Individual users can disable the NVIDIA Notification Icon for their own Citrix Published
Application sessions.
Before you begin, ensure that you are logged on to a Citrix Published Application session.

1. Set the current user's StartOnLogin Windows registry key to 0.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\NvTray\]
Value: "StartOnLogin"
Type: DWORD
Data: 00000000

The data value 0 disables the NVIDIA Notification Icon, and the data value 1 enables it.
2. Log off and log on again or restart the VM.
You must log on and log off again or restart the VM to ensure that the registry key is set
before the NVIDIA service in the user session starts.

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Appendix E. Citrix Hypervisor Basics

To install and configure NVIDIA vGPU software and optimize Citrix Hypervisor operation with
vGPU, some basic operations on Citrix Hypervisor are needed.

E.1. Opening a dom0 shell

Most configuration commands must be run in a command shell in the Citrix Hypervisor dom0
domain. You can open a shell in the Citrix Hypervisor dom0 domain in any of the following
ways:

‣ Using the console window in XenCenter

‣ Using a standalone secure shell (SSH) client

E.1.1. Accessing the dom0 shell through XenCenter

1. In the left pane of the XenCenter window, select the Citrix Hypervisor host that you want to
connect to.
2. Click on the Console tab to open the Citrix Hypervisor console.
3. Press Enter to start a shell prompt.

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 Citrix Hypervisor Basics

Figure 34. Connecting to the dom0 shell by using XenCenter

E.1.2. Accessing the dom0 shell through an SSH

client
1. Ensure that you have an SSH client suite such as PuTTY on Windows, or the SSH client
from OpenSSH on Linux.
2. Connect your SSH client to the management IP address of the Citrix Hypervisor host.
3. Log in as the root user.

E.2. Copying files to dom0

You can easily copy files to and from Citrix Hypervisor dom0 in any of the following ways:

‣ Using a Secure Copy Protocol (SCP) client

‣ Using a network-mounted file system

E.2.1. Copying files by using an SCP client

The SCP client to use for copying files to dom0 depends on where you are running the client
from.

‣ If you are running the client from dom0, use the secure copy command scp.

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 Citrix Hypervisor Basics

The scp command is part of the SSH suite of applications. It is implemented in dom0 and
can be used to copy from a remote SSH-enabled server:
[root@xenserver ~]# scp root@10.31.213.96:/tmp/somefile .
The authenticity of host '10.31.213.96 (10.31.213.96)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 26:2d:9b:b9:bf:6c:81:70:36:76:13:02:c1:82:3d:3c.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added '10.31.213.96' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
root@10.31.213.96's password:
somefile 100% 532 0.5KB/s 00:00
[root@xenserver ~]#
‣ If you are running the client from Windows, use the pscp program.
The pscp program is part of the PuTTY suite and can be used to copy files from a remote
Windows system to Citrix Hypervisor:
C:\Users\nvidia>pscp somefile root@10.31.213.98:/tmp
root@10.31.213.98's password:
somefile | 80 kB | 80.1 kB/s | ETA: 00:00:00 | 100%

C:\Users\nvidia>

E.2.2. Copying files by using a CIFS-mounted file

system
You can copy files to and from a CIFS/SMB file share by mounting the share from dom0.
The following example shows how to mount a network share \\myserver.example.com
\myshare at /mnt/myshare on dom0 and how to copy files to and from the share. The
example assumes that the file share is part of an Active Directory domain called example.com
and that user myuser has permissions to access the share.

1. Create the directory /mnt/myshare on dom0.

[root@xenserver ~]# mkdir /mnt/myshare
2. Mount the network share \\myserver.example.com\myshare at /mnt/myshare on dom0.
[root@xenserver ~]# mount -t cifs -o username=myuser,workgroup=example.com //
myserver.example.com/myshare /mnt/myshare
Password:
[root@xenserver ~]#
3. When prompted for a password, enter the password for myuser in the example.com
domain.
4. After the share has been mounted, copy files to and from the file share by using the cp
command to copy them to and from /mnt/myshare:
[root@xenserver ~]# cp /mnt/myshare/NVIDIA-vGPU-NVIDIA-vGPU-
CitrixHypervisor-8.2-460.73.02.x86_64.rpm .
[root@xenserver ~]#

E.3. Determining a VM’s UUID

You can determine a virtual machine’s UUID in any of the following ways:

‣ Using the xe vm-list command in a dom0 shell

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 Citrix Hypervisor Basics

‣ Using XenCenter

E.3.1. Determining a VM’s UUID by using xe vm-

list
Use the xe vm-list command to list all VMs and their associated UUIDs or to find the UUID
of a specific named VM.

‣ To list all VMs and their associated UUIDs, use xe vm-list without any parameters:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-list
uuid ( RO) : 6b5585f6-bd74-2e3e-0e11-03b9281c3ade
name-label ( RW): vgx-base-image-win7-64
power-state ( RO): halted

uuid ( RO) : fa3d15c7-7e88-4886-c36a-cdb23ed8e275

name-label ( RW): test-image-win7-32
power-state ( RO): halted

uuid ( RO) : 501bb598-a9b3-4afc-9143-ff85635d5dc3

name-label ( RW): Control domain on host: xenserver
power-state ( RO): running

uuid ( RO) : 8495adf7-be9d-eee1-327f-02e4f40714fc

name-label ( RW): vgx-base-image-win7-32
power-state ( RO): halted
‣ To find the UUID of a specific named VM, use the name-label parameter to xe vm-list:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-list name-label=test-image-win7-32
uuid ( RO) : fa3d15c7-7e88-4886-c36a-cdb23ed8e275
name-label ( RW): test-image-win7-32
power-state ( RO): halted

E.3.2. Determining a VM’s UUID by using XenCenter

1. In the left pane of the XenCenter window, select the VM whose UUID you want to
determine.
2. In the right pane of the XenCenter window, click the General tab.

The UUID is listed in the VM’s General Properties.

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 Citrix Hypervisor Basics

Figure 35. Using XenCenter to determine a VM's UUID

E.4. Using more than two vCPUs with

Windows client VMs
Windows client operating systems support a maximum of two CPU sockets. When allocating
vCPUs to virtual sockets within a guest VM, Citrix Hypervisor defaults to allocating one vCPU
per socket. Any more than two vCPUs allocated to the VM won’t be recognized by the Windows
client OS.
To ensure that all allocated vCPUs are recognized, set platform:cores-per-socket to the
number of vCPUs that are allocated to the VM:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=vm-uuid platform:cores-per-socket=4 VCPUs-max=4
VCPUs-at-startup=4

vm-uuid is the VM’s UUID, which you can obtain as explained in Determining a VM’s UUID.

E.5. Pinning VMs to a specific CPU socket

and cores
1. Use xe host-cpu-info to determine the number of CPU sockets and logical CPU cores in
the server platform.
In this example the server implements 32 logical CPU cores across two sockets:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe host-cpu-info
cpu_count : 32
socket_count: 2

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 Citrix Hypervisor Basics

vendor: GenuineIntel
speed: 2600.064
modelname: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2670 0 @ 2.60GHz
family: 6
model: 45
stepping: 7
flags: fpu de tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr mca cmov pat
clflush acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht nx constant_tsc nonstop_tsc aperfmperf
pni pclmulqdq vmx est ssse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt aes hypervisor ida arat
tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid
features: 17bee3ff-bfebfbff-00000001-2c100800
features_after_reboot: 17bee3ff-bfebfbff-00000001-2c100800
physical_features: 17bee3ff-bfebfbff-00000001-2c100800
maskable: full
2. Set VCPUs-params:mask to pin a VM’s vCPUs to a specific socket or to specific cores
within a socket.
This setting persists over VM reboots and shutdowns. In a dual socket platform with 32
total cores, cores 0-15 are on socket 0, and cores 16-31 are on socket 1.
In the examples that follow, vm-uuid is the VM’s UUID, which you can obtain as explained in
Determining a VM’s UUID.

‣ To restrict a VM to only run on socket 0, set the mask to specify cores 0-15:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=vm-uuid VCPUs-
params:mask=0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15

‣ To restrict a VM to only run on socket 1, set the mask to specify cores 16-31:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=vm-uuid VCPUs-
params:mask=16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31

‣ To pin vCPUs to specific cores within a socket, set the mask to specify the cores
directly:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=vm-uuid VCPUs-params:mask=16,17,18,19
3. Use xl vcpu-list to list the current assignment of vCPUs to physical CPUs:
[root@xenserver ~]# xl vcpu-list
Name ID VCPU CPU State Time(s) CPU Affinity
Domain-0 0 0 25 -b- 9188.4 any cpu
Domain-0 0 1 19 r-- 8908.4 any cpu
Domain-0 0 2 30 -b- 6815.1 any cpu
Domain-0 0 3 17 -b- 4881.4 any cpu
Domain-0 0 4 22 -b- 4956.9 any cpu
Domain-0 0 5 20 -b- 4319.2 any cpu
Domain-0 0 6 28 -b- 5720.0 any cpu
Domain-0 0 7 26 -b- 5736.0 any cpu
test-image-win7-32 34 0 9 -b- 17.0 4-15
test-image-win7-32 34 1 4 -b- 13.7 4-15

E.6. Changing dom0 vCPU Default

configuration
By default, dom0 vCPUs are configured as follows:

‣ The number of vCPUs assigned to dom0 is 8.

‣ The dom0 shell’s vCPUs are unpinned and able to run on any physical CPU in the system.

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 Citrix Hypervisor Basics

E.6.1. Changing the number of dom0 vCPUs

The default number of vCPUs assigned to dom0 is 8.

1. Modify the dom0_max_vcpus parameter in the Xen boot line.

For example:
[root@xenserver ~]# /opt/xensource/libexec/xen-cmdline --set-xen dom0_max_vcpus=4
2. After applying this setting, reboot the system for the setting to take effect by doing one of
the following:

‣ Run the following command:

shutdown –r

‣ Reboot the system from XenCenter.

E.6.2. Pinning dom0 vCPUs

By default, dom0’s vCPUs are unpinned, and able to run on any physical CPU in the system.

1. To pin dom0 vCPUs to specific physical CPUs, use xl vcpu-pin.

For example, to pin dom0’s vCPU 0 to physical CPU 18, use the following command:
[root@xenserver ~]# xl vcpu-pin Domain-0 0 18
CPU pinnings applied this way take effect immediately but do not persist over reboots.
2. To make settings persistent, add xl vcpu-pin commands into /etc/rc.local.
For example:
xl vcpu-pin 0 0 0-15
xl vcpu-pin 0 1 0-15
xl vcpu-pin 0 2 0-15
xl vcpu-pin 0 3 0-15
xl vcpu-pin 0 4 16-31
xl vcpu-pin 0 5 16-31
xl vcpu-pin 0 6 16-31
xl vcpu-pin 0 7 16-31

E.7. How GPU locality is determined

As noted in NUMA Considerations, current multi-socket servers typically implement PCIe
expansion slots local to each CPU socket and it is advantageous to pin VMs to the same socket
that their associated physical GPU is connected to.
For current Intel platforms, CPU socket 0 typically has its PCIe root ports located on bus 0, so
any GPU below a root port located on bus 0 is connected to socket 0. CPU socket 1 has its root
ports on a higher bus number, typically bus 0x20 or bus 0x80 depending on the specific server
platform.

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Appendix F. Citrix Hypervisor vGPU
Management

You can perform Citrix Hypervisor advanced vGPU management techniques by using
XenCenter and by using xe command line operations.

F.1. Management objects for GPUs

Citrix Hypervisor uses four underlying management objects for GPUs: physical GPUs, vGPU
types, GPU groups, and vGPUs. These objects are used directly when managing vGPU by using
xe, and indirectly when managing vGPU by using XenCenter.

F.1.1. pgpu - Physical GPU

A pgpu object represents a physical GPU, such as one of the multiple GPUs present on a Tesla
M60 or M10 card. Citrix Hypervisor automatically creates pgpu objects at startup to represent
each physical GPU present on the platform.

F.1.1.1. Listing the pgpu Objects Present on a Platform

To list the physical GPU objects present on a platform, use xe pgpu-list.
For example, this platform contains a Tesla P40 card with a single physical GPU and a Tesla
M60 card with two physical GPUs:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-list
uuid ( RO) : f76d1c90-e443-4bfc-8f26-7959a7c85c68
vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
device-name ( RO): GP102GL [Tesla P40]
gpu-group-uuid ( RW): 134a7b71-5ceb-8066-ef1b-3b319fb2bef3

uuid ( RO) : 4c5e05d9-60fa-4fe5-9cfc-c641e95c8e85

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
device-name ( RO): GM204GL [Tesla M60]
gpu-group-uuid ( RW): 3df80574-c303-f020-efb3-342f969da5de

uuid ( RO) : 4960e63c-c9fe-4a25-add4-ee697263e04c

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
device-name ( RO): GM204GL [Tesla M60]
gpu-group-uuid ( RW): d32560f2-2158-42f9-d201-511691e1cb2b
[root@xenserver ~]#

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 Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management

F.1.1.2. Viewing Detailed Information About a pgpu Object

To view detailed information about a pgpu, use xe pgpu-param-list:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-param-list uuid=4960e63c-c9fe-4a25-add4-ee697263e04c
uuid ( RO) : 4960e63c-c9fe-4a25-add4-ee697263e04c
vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
device-name ( RO): GM204GL [Tesla M60]
dom0-access ( RO): enabled
is-system-display-device ( RO): false
gpu-group-uuid ( RW): d32560f2-2158-42f9-d201-511691e1cb2b
gpu-group-name-label ( RO): 86:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA
Corporation GM204GL [Tesla M60] (rev a1)
host-uuid ( RO): b55452df-1ee4-4e4e-bd97-3aee97b2123a
host-name-label ( RO): xs7.1
pci-id ( RO): 0000:86:00.0
dependencies (SRO):
other-config (MRW):
supported-VGPU-types ( RO): 5b9acd25-06fa-43e1-8b53-c35bceb8515c;
16326fcb-543f-4473-a4ae-2d30516a2779; 0f9fc39a-0758-43c8-88cc-54c8491aa4d4;
cecb2033-3b4a-437c-a0c0-c9dfdb692d9b; 095d8939-5f84-405d-a39a-684738f9b957;
56c335be-4036-4a38-816c-c246a60556ac; ef0a94fd-2230-4fd4-aee0-d6d3f6ced4ef;
11615f73-47b8-4494-806e-2a7b5e1d7bea; dbd8f2ac-f548-4c40-804b-9133cfda8090;
a33189f1-1417-4593-aa7d-978c4f25b953; 3f437337-3682-4897-a7ba-6334519f4c19;
99900aab-42b0-4cc4-8832-560ff6b60231
enabled-VGPU-types (SRW): 5b9acd25-06fa-43e1-8b53-c35bceb8515c;
16326fcb-543f-4473-a4ae-2d30516a2779; 0f9fc39a-0758-43c8-88cc-54c8491aa4d4;
cecb2033-3b4a-437c-a0c0-c9dfdb692d9b; 095d8939-5f84-405d-a39a-684738f9b957;
56c335be-4036-4a38-816c-c246a60556ac; ef0a94fd-2230-4fd4-aee0-d6d3f6ced4ef;
11615f73-47b8-4494-806e-2a7b5e1d7bea; dbd8f2ac-f548-4c40-804b-9133cfda8090;
a33189f1-1417-4593-aa7d-978c4f25b953; 3f437337-3682-4897-a7ba-6334519f4c19;
99900aab-42b0-4cc4-8832-560ff6b60231
resident-VGPUs ( RO):
[root@xenserver ~]#

F.1.1.3. Viewing physical GPUs in XenCenter

To view physical GPUs in XenCenter, click on the server’s GPU tab:

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 Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management

Figure 36. Physical GPU display in XenCenter

F.1.2. vgpu-type - Virtual GPU Type

A vgpu-type represents a type of virtual GPU, such as M60-0B, P40-8A, and P100-16Q. An
additional, pass-through vGPU type is defined to represent a physical GPU that is directly
assignable to a single guest VM.
Citrix Hypervisor automatically creates vgpu-type objects at startup to represent each virtual
type supported by the physical GPUs present on the platform.

F.1.2.1. Listing the vgpu-type Objects Present on a

Platform
To list the vgpu-type objects present on a platform, use xe vgpu-type-list.
For example, as this platform contains Tesla P100, Tesla P40, and Tesla M60 cards, the vGPU
types reported are the types supported by these cards:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-type-list
uuid ( RO) : d27f84a2-53f8-4430-ad15-0eca225cd974
vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-12A
max-heads ( RO): 1
max-resolution ( RO): 1280x1024

uuid ( RO) : 57bb231f-f61b-408e-a0c0-106bddd91019

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-3Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

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 Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management

uuid ( RO) : 9b2eaba5-565f-4cb4-ad9b-6347cfb03e93

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-2Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

uuid ( RO) : af593219-0800-42da-a51d-d13b35f589e1

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-4A
max-heads ( RO): 1
max-resolution ( RO): 1280x1024

uuid ( RO) : 5b9acd25-06fa-43e1-8b53-c35bceb8515c

vendor-name ( RO):
model-name ( RO): passthrough
max-heads ( RO): 0
max-resolution ( RO): 0x0

uuid ( RO) : af121387-0b58-498a-8d04-fe0305e4308f

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-3A
max-heads ( RO): 1
max-resolution ( RO): 1280x1024

uuid ( RO) : 3b28a628-fd6c-4cda-b0fb-80165699229e

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P100-4Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

uuid ( RO) : 99900aab-42b0-4cc4-8832-560ff6b60231

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID M60-1Q
max-heads ( RO): 2
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

uuid ( RO) : 0f9fc39a-0758-43c8-88cc-54c8491aa4d4

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID M60-4A
max-heads ( RO): 1
max-resolution ( RO): 1280x1024

uuid ( RO) : 4017c9dd-373f-431a-b36f-50e4e5c9f0c0

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-6A
max-heads ( RO): 1
max-resolution ( RO): 1280x1024

uuid ( RO) : 125fbbdf-406e-4d7c-9de8-a7536aa1a838

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-24A
max-heads ( RO): 1
max-resolution ( RO): 1280x1024

uuid ( RO) : 88162a34-1151-49d3-98ae-afcd963f3105

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-2A
max-heads ( RO): 1

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 Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management

max-resolution ( RO): 1280x1024

uuid ( RO) : ad00a95c-d066-4158-b361-487abf57dd30

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-1A
max-heads ( RO): 1
max-resolution ( RO): 1280x1024

uuid ( RO) : 11615f73-47b8-4494-806e-2a7b5e1d7bea

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID M60-0Q
max-heads ( RO): 2
max-resolution ( RO): 2560x1600

uuid ( RO) : 6ea0cd56-526c-4966-8f53-7e1721b95a5c

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-4Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

uuid ( RO) : 095d8939-5f84-405d-a39a-684738f9b957

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID M60-4Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

uuid ( RO) : 9626e649-6802-4396-976d-94c0ead1f835

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-12Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

uuid ( RO) : a33189f1-1417-4593-aa7d-978c4f25b953

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID M60-0B
max-heads ( RO): 2
max-resolution ( RO): 2560x1600

uuid ( RO) : dbd8f2ac-f548-4c40-804b-9133cfda8090

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID M60-1A
max-heads ( RO): 1
max-resolution ( RO): 1280x1024

uuid ( RO) : ef0a94fd-2230-4fd4-aee0-d6d3f6ced4ef

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID M60-8Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

uuid ( RO) : 67fa06ab-554e-452b-a66e-a4048a5bfdf7

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-6Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

uuid ( RO) : 739d7b8e-50e2-48a1-ae0d-5047aa490f0e

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 Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation

model-name ( RO): GRID P40-8A
max-heads ( RO): 1
max-resolution ( RO): 1280x1024

uuid ( RO) : 9fb62f31-7dfb-46f8-a4a9-cca8db48147e

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P100-8Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

uuid ( RO) : 56c335be-4036-4a38-816c-c246a60556ac

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID M60-1B
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 2560x1600

uuid ( RO) : 3f437337-3682-4897-a7ba-6334519f4c19

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID M60-8A
max-heads ( RO): 1
max-resolution ( RO): 1280x1024

uuid ( RO) : 25dbb2d3-a074-4f9f-92ce-b42d8b3d1de2

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-1B
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 2560x1600

uuid ( RO) : cecb2033-3b4a-437c-a0c0-c9dfdb692d9b

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID M60-2Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

uuid ( RO) : 16326fcb-543f-4473-a4ae-2d30516a2779

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID M60-2A
max-heads ( RO): 1
max-resolution ( RO): 1280x1024

uuid ( RO) : 7ca2399f-89ab-49dd-bf96-75071ced28fc

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-24Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

uuid ( RO) : 9611a3f4-d130-4a66-a61b-21d4a2ca4663

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-8Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

uuid ( RO) : d0e4a116-a944-42ef-a8dc-62a54c4d2d77

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-1Q
max-heads ( RO): 2
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160

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 Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management

[root@xenserver ~]#

F.1.2.2. Viewing Detailed Information About a vgpu-type

Object
To see detailed information about a vgpu-type, use xe vgpu-type-param-list:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe xe vgpu-type-param-list uuid=7ca2399f-89ab-49dd-bf96-75071ced28fc
uuid ( RO) : 7ca2399f-89ab-49dd-bf96-75071ced28fc
vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID P40-24Q
framebuffer-size ( RO): 24092082176
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 4096x2160
supported-on-PGPUs ( RO): f76d1c90-e443-4bfc-8f26-7959a7c85c68
enabled-on-PGPUs ( RO): f76d1c90-e443-4bfc-8f26-7959a7c85c68
supported-on-GPU-groups ( RO): 134a7b71-5ceb-8066-ef1b-3b319fb2bef3
enabled-on-GPU-groups ( RO): 134a7b71-5ceb-8066-ef1b-3b319fb2bef3
VGPU-uuids ( RO):
experimental ( RO): false
[root@xenserver ~]#

F.1.3. gpu-group - collection of physical GPUs

A gpu-group is a collection of physical GPUs, all of the same type. Citrix Hypervisor
automatically creates gpu-group objects at startup to represent the distinct types of physical
GPU present on the platform.

F.1.3.1. Listing the gpu-group Objects Present on a

Platform
To list the gpu-group objects present on a platform, use xe gpu-group-list.
For example, a system with a single Tesla P100 card, a single Tesla P40 card, and two Tesla
M60 cards contains a single GPU group of type Tesla P100, a single GPU group of type Tesla
P40, and two GPU groups of type Tesla M60:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe gpu-group-list
uuid ( RO) : 3d652a59-beaf-ddb3-3b19-c8c77ef60605
name-label ( RW): Group of NVIDIA Corporation GP100GL [Tesla P100 PCIe
16GB] GPUs
name-description ( RW):

uuid ( RO) : 3df80574-c303-f020-efb3-342f969da5de

name-label ( RW): 85:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation
GM204GL [Tesla M60] (rev a1)
name-description ( RW): 85:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation
GM204GL [Tesla M60] (rev a1)

uuid ( RO) : 134a7b71-5ceb-8066-ef1b-3b319fb2bef3

name-label ( RW): 87:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP102GL [TESLA
P40] (rev a1)
name-description ( RW): 87:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP102GL [TESLA
P40] (rev a1)

uuid ( RO) : d32560f2-2158-42f9-d201-511691e1cb2b

name-label ( RW): 86:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation
GM204GL [Tesla M60] (rev a1)

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 Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management

name-description ( RW): 86:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation

GM204GL [Tesla M60] (rev a1)
[root@xenserver ~]#

F.1.3.2. Viewing Detailed Information About a gpu-group

Object
To view detailed information about a gpu-group, use xe gpu-group-param-list:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe gpu-group-param-list uuid=134a7b71-5ceb-8066-ef1b-3b319fb2bef3
uuid ( RO) : 134a7b71-5ceb-8066-ef1b-3b319fb2bef3
name-label ( RW): 87:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP102GL
[TESLA P40] (rev a1)
name-description ( RW): 87:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP102GL
[TESLA P40] (rev a1)
VGPU-uuids (SRO): 101fb062-427f-1999-9e90-5a914075e9ca
PGPU-uuids (SRO): f76d1c90-e443-4bfc-8f26-7959a7c85c68
other-config (MRW):
enabled-VGPU-types ( RO): d0e4a116-a944-42ef-a8dc-62a54c4d2d77;
9611a3f4-d130-4a66-a61b-21d4a2ca4663; 7ca2399f-89ab-49dd-bf96-75071ced28fc;
25dbb2d3-a074-4f9f-92ce-b42d8b3d1de2; 739d7b8e-50e2-48a1-ae0d-5047aa490f0e;
67fa06ab-554e-452b-a66e-a4048a5bfdf7; 9626e649-6802-4396-976d-94c0ead1f835;
6ea0cd56-526c-4966-8f53-7e1721b95a5c; ad00a95c-d066-4158-b361-487abf57dd30;
88162a34-1151-49d3-98ae-afcd963f3105; 125fbbdf-406e-4d7c-9de8-a7536aa1a838;
4017c9dd-373f-431a-b36f-50e4e5c9f0c0; af121387-0b58-498a-8d04-fe0305e4308f;
5b9acd25-06fa-43e1-8b53-c35bceb8515c; af593219-0800-42da-a51d-d13b35f589e1;
9b2eaba5-565f-4cb4-ad9b-6347cfb03e93; 57bb231f-f61b-408e-a0c0-106bddd91019;
d27f84a2-53f8-4430-ad15-0eca225cd974
supported-VGPU-types ( RO): d0e4a116-a944-42ef-a8dc-62a54c4d2d77;
9611a3f4-d130-4a66-a61b-21d4a2ca4663; 7ca2399f-89ab-49dd-bf96-75071ced28fc;
25dbb2d3-a074-4f9f-92ce-b42d8b3d1de2; 739d7b8e-50e2-48a1-ae0d-5047aa490f0e;
67fa06ab-554e-452b-a66e-a4048a5bfdf7; 9626e649-6802-4396-976d-94c0ead1f835;
6ea0cd56-526c-4966-8f53-7e1721b95a5c; ad00a95c-d066-4158-b361-487abf57dd30;
88162a34-1151-49d3-98ae-afcd963f3105; 125fbbdf-406e-4d7c-9de8-a7536aa1a838;
4017c9dd-373f-431a-b36f-50e4e5c9f0c0; af121387-0b58-498a-8d04-fe0305e4308f;
5b9acd25-06fa-43e1-8b53-c35bceb8515c; af593219-0800-42da-a51d-d13b35f589e1;
9b2eaba5-565f-4cb4-ad9b-6347cfb03e93; 57bb231f-f61b-408e-a0c0-106bddd91019;
d27f84a2-53f8-4430-ad15-0eca225cd974
allocation-algorithm ( RW): depth-first
[root@xenserver ~]

F.1.4. vgpu - Virtual GPU

A vgpu object represents a virtual GPU. Unlike the other GPU management objects, vgpu
objects are not created automatically by Citrix Hypervisor. Instead, they are created as follows:

‣ When a VM is configured through XenCenter or through xe to use a vGPU

‣ By cloning a VM that is configured to use vGPU, as explained in Cloning vGPU-Enabled VMs

F.2. Creating a vGPU Using xe

Use xe vgpu-create to create a vgpu object, specifying the type of vGPU required, the GPU
group it will be allocated from, and the VM it is associated with:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-create vm-uuid=e71afda4-53f4-3a1b-6c92-a364a7f619c2
gpu-group-uuid=be825ba2-01d7-8d51-9780-f82cfaa64924 vgpu-type-uuid=3f318889-7508-
c9fd-7134-003d4d05ae56b73cbd30-096f-8a9a-523e-a800062f4ca7
[root@xenserver ~]#

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 Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management

Creating the vgpu object for a VM does not immediately cause a virtual GPU to be created on
a physical GPU. Instead, the vgpu object is created whenever its associated VM is started. For
more details on how vGPUs are created at VM startup, see Controlling vGPU allocation.

Note:

The owning VM must be in the powered-off state in order for the vgpu-create command to
succeed.

A vgpu object’s owning VM, associated GPU group, and vGPU type are fixed at creation and
cannot be subsequently changed. To change the type of vGPU allocated to a VM, delete the
existing vgpu object and create another one.

F.3. Controlling vGPU allocation

Configuring a VM to use a vGPU in XenCenter, or creating a vgpu object for a VM using xe,
does not immediately cause a virtual GPU to be created; rather, the virtual GPU is created at
the time the VM is next booted, using the following steps:

‣ The GPU group that the vgpu object is associated with is checked for a physical GPU
that can host a vGPU of the required type (i.e. the vgpu object’s associated vgpu-type).
Because vGPU types cannot be mixed on a single physical GPU, the new vGPU can only
be created on a physical GPU that has no vGPUs resident on it, or only vGPUs of the same
type, and less than the limit of vGPUs of that type that the physical GPU can support.
‣ If no such physical GPUs exist in the group, the vgpu creation fails and the VM startup is
aborted.
‣ Otherwise, if more than one such physical GPU exists in the group, a physical GPU is
selected according to the GPU group’s allocation policy, as described in Modifying GPU
Allocation Policy.

F.3.1. Determining the Physical GPU on Which a

Virtual GPU is Resident
The vgpu object’s resident-on parameter returns the UUID of the pgpu object for the
physical GPU the vGPU is resident on.
To determine the physical GPU that a virtual GPU is resident on, use vgpu-param-get:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-param-get uuid=101fb062-427f-1999-9e90-5a914075e9ca param-
name=resident-on
f76d1c90-e443-4bfc-8f26-7959a7c85c68

[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-param-list uuid=f76d1c90-e443-4bfc-8f26-7959a7c85c68

uuid ( RO) : f76d1c90-e443-4bfc-8f26-7959a7c85c68
vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
device-name ( RO): GP102GL [Tesla P40]
gpu-group-uuid ( RW): 134a7b71-5ceb-8066-ef1b-3b319fb2bef3
gpu-group-name-label ( RO): 87:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation
GP102GL [TESLA P40] (rev a1)
host-uuid ( RO): b55452df-1ee4-4e4e-bd97-3aee97b2123a
host-name-label ( RO): xs7.1-krish

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 Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management

pci-id ( RO): 0000:87:00.0

dependencies (SRO):
other-config (MRW):
supported-VGPU-types ( RO): 5b9acd25-06fa-43e1-8b53-c35bceb8515c;
88162a34-1151-49d3-98ae-afcd963f3105; 9b2eaba5-565f-4cb4-ad9b-6347cfb03e93;
739d7b8e-50e2-48a1-ae0d-5047aa490f0e; d0e4a116-a944-42ef-a8dc-62a54c4d2d77;
7ca2399f-89ab-49dd-bf96-75071ced28fc; 67fa06ab-554e-452b-a66e-a4048a5bfdf7;
9611a3f4-d130-4a66-a61b-21d4a2ca4663; d27f84a2-53f8-4430-ad15-0eca225cd974;
125fbbdf-406e-4d7c-9de8-a7536aa1a838; 4017c9dd-373f-431a-b36f-50e4e5c9f0c0;
6ea0cd56-526c-4966-8f53-7e1721b95a5c; af121387-0b58-498a-8d04-fe0305e4308f;
9626e649-6802-4396-976d-94c0ead1f835; ad00a95c-d066-4158-b361-487abf57dd30;
af593219-0800-42da-a51d-d13b35f589e1; 25dbb2d3-a074-4f9f-92ce-b42d8b3d1de2;
57bb231f-f61b-408e-a0c0-106bddd91019
enabled-VGPU-types (SRW): 5b9acd25-06fa-43e1-8b53-c35bceb8515c;
88162a34-1151-49d3-98ae-afcd963f3105; 9b2eaba5-565f-4cb4-ad9b-6347cfb03e93;
739d7b8e-50e2-48a1-ae0d-5047aa490f0e; d0e4a116-a944-42ef-a8dc-62a54c4d2d77;
7ca2399f-89ab-49dd-bf96-75071ced28fc; 67fa06ab-554e-452b-a66e-a4048a5bfdf7;
9611a3f4-d130-4a66-a61b-21d4a2ca4663; d27f84a2-53f8-4430-ad15-0eca225cd974;
125fbbdf-406e-4d7c-9de8-a7536aa1a838; 4017c9dd-373f-431a-b36f-50e4e5c9f0c0;
6ea0cd56-526c-4966-8f53-7e1721b95a5c; af121387-0b58-498a-8d04-fe0305e4308f;
9626e649-6802-4396-976d-94c0ead1f835; ad00a95c-d066-4158-b361-487abf57dd30;
af593219-0800-42da-a51d-d13b35f589e1; 25dbb2d3-a074-4f9f-92ce-b42d8b3d1de2;
57bb231f-f61b-408e-a0c0-106bddd91019
resident-VGPUs ( RO): 101fb062-427f-1999-9e90-5a914075e9ca
[root@xenserver ~]#

Note: If the vGPU is not currently running, the resident-on parameter is not instantiated for
the vGPU, and the vgpu-param-get operation returns:
<not in database>

F.3.2. Controlling the vGPU types enabled on

specific physical GPUs
Physical GPUs support several vGPU types, as defined in Virtual GPU Types for Supported
GPUs and the “pass-through” type that is used to assign an entire physical GPU to a VM (see
Using GPU Pass-Through on Citrix Hypervisor).

F.3.2.1. Controlling vGPU types enabled on specific

physical GPUs by using XenCenter
To limit the types of vGPU that may be created on a specific physical GPU:

1. Open the server’s GPU tab in XenCenter.

2. Select the box beside one or more GPUs on which you want to limit the types of vGPU.
3. Select Edit Selected GPUs.

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 Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management

Figure 37. Editing a GPU’s enabled vGPU types using XenCenter

F.3.2.2. Controlling vGPU Types Enabled on Specific

Physical GPUs by Using xe
The physical GPU’s pgpu object’s enabled-vGPU-types parameter controls the vGPU types
enabled on specific physical GPUs.
To modify the pgpu object’s enabled-vGPU-types parameter , use xe pgpu-param-set:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-param-list uuid=cb08aaae-8e5a-47cb-888e-60dcc73c01d3
uuid ( RO) : cb08aaae-8e5a-47cb-888e-60dcc73c01d3
vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
device-name ( RO): GP102GL [Tesla P40]
domO-access ( RO): enabled
is-system-display-device ( RO): false
gpu-group-uuid ( RW): bfel603d-c526-05f3-e64f-951485ef3b49
gpu-group-name-label ( RO): 87:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP102GL
[Tesla P40] (rev al)
host-uuid ( RO): fdeb6bbb-e460-4cfl-ad43-49ac81c20540
host-name-label ( RO): xs-72
pci-id ( RO): 0000:87:00.0
dependencies (SRO):
other-config (MRW):
supported-VGPU-types ( RO): 23e6b80b-le5e-4c33-bedb-e6dlae472fec;
f5583e39-2540-440d-a0ee-dde9f0783abf; al8e46ff-4d05-4322-b040-667ce77d78a8;
adell9a9-84el-435f-b0e9-14cl62e212fb; 2560d066-054a-48a9-a44d-3f3f90493a00;
47858f38-045d-4a05-9blc-9128fee6b0ab; Ifb527f6-493f-442b-abe2-94a6fafd49ce;
78b8e044-09ae-4a4c-8a96-b20c7a585842; 18ed7e7e-f8b7-496e-9784-8ba4e35acaa3;
48681d88-c4e5-4e39-85ff-c9bal2e8e484 ; cc3dbbfb-4b83-400d-8c52-811948b7f8c4;
8elad75a-ed5f-4609-83ff-5f9bca9aaca2; 840389a0-f511-4f90-8153-8a749d85b09e;
a2042742-da67-4613-a538-ldl7d30dccb9; 299e47c2-8fcl-4edf-aa31-e29db84168c6;
e95c636e-06e6-4 47e-8b49-14b37d308922; 0524a5d0-7160-48c5-a9el-cc33e76dc0de;
09043fb2-6d67-4443-b312-25688f13e012

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 Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management

enabled-VGPU-types (SRW): 23e6b80b-le5e-4c33-bedb-e6dlae472fec;

f5583e39-2540-440d-a0ee-dde9f0783abf; al8e46ff-4d05-4322-b040-667ce77d78a8;
adell9a9-84el-435f-b0e9-14cl62e212fb; 2560d066-054a-48a9-a44d-3f3f90493a00;
47858f38-045d-4a05-9blc-9128fee6b0ab; Ifb527f6-493f-442b-abe2-94a6fafd49ce;
78b8e044-09ae-4a4c-8a96-b20c7a585842; 18ed7e7e-f8b7-496e-9784-8ba4e35acaa3;
48681d88-c4e5-4e39-85ff-c9bal2e8e484 ; cc3dbbfb-4b83-400d-8c52-811948b7f8c4;
8elad75a-ed5f-4609-83ff-5f9bca9aaca2; 840389a0-f511-4f90-8153-8a749d85b09e;
a2042742-da67-4613-a538-ldl7d30dccb9; 299e47c2-8fcl-4edf-aa31-e29db84168c6;
e95c636e-06e6-4 47e-8b49-14b37d308922; 0524a5d0-7160-48c5-a9el-cc33e76dc0de;
09043fb2-6d67-4443-b312-25688f13e012
resident-VGPUs ( RO):

[root@xenserver-vgx-test ~]# xe pgpu-param-set uuid=cb08aaae-8e5a-47cb-888e-60dcc73c01d3

enabled-VGPU-types=23e6b80b-le5e-4c33-bedb-e6dlae472fec

F.3.3. Creating vGPUs on Specific Physical GPUs

To precisely control allocation of vGPUs on specific physical GPUs, create separate GPU
groups for the physical GPUs you wish to allocate vGPUs on. When creating a virtual GPU,
create it on the GPU group containing the physical GPU you want it to be allocated on.
For example, to create a new GPU group for the physical GPU at PCI bus ID 0000:87:00.0,
follow these steps:

1. Create the new GPU group with an appropriate name:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe gpu-group-create name-label="GRID P40 87:0.0"
3f870244-41da-469f-71f3-22bc6d700e71
[root@xenserver ~]#
2. Find the UUID of the physical GPU at 0000:87:0.0 that you want to assign to the new GPU
group:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-list pci-id=0000:87:00.0
uuid ( RO) : f76d1c90-e443-4bfc-8f26-7959a7c85c68
vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
device-name ( RO): GP102GL [Tesla P40]
gpu-group-uuid ( RW): 134a7b71-5ceb-8066-ef1b-3b319fb2bef3
[root@xenserver ~]

Note: The pci-id parameter passed to the pgpu-list command must be in the exact
format shown, with the PCI domain fully specified (for example, 0000) and the PCI bus and
devices numbers each being two digits (for example, 87:00.0).

3. Ensure that no vGPUs are currently operating on the physical GPU by checking the
resident-VGPUs parameter:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-param-get uuid=f76d1c90-e443-4bfc-8f26-7959a7c85c68 param-
name=resident-VGPUs
[root@xenserver ~]#
4. If any vGPUs are listed, shut down the VMs associated with them.
5. Change the gpu-group-uuid parameter of the physical GPU to the UUID of the newly-
created GPU group:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-param-set uuid=7c1e3cff-1429-0544-df3d-bf8a086fb70a gpu-
group-uuid=585877ef-5a6c-66af-fc56-7bd525bdc2f6
[root@xenserver ~]#

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 Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management

Any vgpu object now created that specifies this GPU group UUID will always have its vGPUs
created on the GPU at PCI bus ID 0000:05:0.0.

Note: You can add more than one physical GPU to a manually-created GPU group – for
example, to represent all the GPUs attached to the same CPU socket in a multi-socket server
platform - but as for automatically-created GPU groups, all the physical GPUs in the group
must be of the same type.

In XenCenter, manually-created GPU groups appear in the GPU type listing in a VM’s GPU
Properties. Select a GPU type within the group from which you wish the vGPU to be allocated:

Figure 38. Using a custom GPU group within XenCenter

F.4. Cloning vGPU-Enabled VMs

The fast-clone or copying feature of Citrix Hypervisor can be used to rapidly create new VMs
from a “golden” base VM image that has been configured with NVIDIA vGPU, the NVIDIA driver,
applications, and remote graphics software.
When a VM is cloned, any vGPU configuration associated with the base VM is copied to the
cloned VM. Starting the cloned VM will create a vGPU instance of the same type as the original
VM, from the same GPU group as the original vGPU.

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 Citrix Hypervisor vGPU Management

F.4.1. Cloning a vGPU-enabled VM by using xe

To clone a vGPU-enabled VM from the dom0 shell, use vm-clone:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-clone new-name-label="new-vm" vm="base-vm-name"
7f7035cb-388d-1537-1465-1857fb6498e7
[root@xenserver ~]#

F.4.2. Cloning a vGPU-enabled VM by using

XenCenter
To clone a vGPU-enabled VM by using XenCenter, use the VM’s Copy VM command as shown
in Figure 39.

Figure 39. Cloning a VM using XenCenter

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Appendix G. Citrix Hypervisor
Performance Tuning

This chapter provides recommendations on optimizing performance for VMs running with
NVIDIA vGPU on Citrix Hypervisor.

G.1. Citrix Hypervisor Tools

To get maximum performance out of a VM running on Citrix Hypervisor, regardless of whether
you are using NVIDIA vGPU, you must install Citrix Hypervisor tools within the VM. Without
the optimized networking and storage drivers that the Citrix Hypervisor tools provide, remote
graphics applications running on NVIDIA vGPU will not deliver maximum performance.

G.2. Using Remote Graphics

NVIDIA vGPU implements a console VGA interface that permits the VM’s graphics output
to be viewed through XenCenter’s console tab. This feature allows the desktop of a vGPU-
enabled VM to be visible in XenCenter before any NVIDIA graphics driver is loaded in the virtual
machine, but it is intended solely as a management convenience; it only supports output of
vGPU’s primary display and isn’t designed or optimized to deliver high frame rates.
To deliver high frames from multiple heads on vGPU, NVIDIA recommends that you install a
high-performance remote graphics stack such as Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops with HDX
3D Pro remote graphics and, after the stack is installed, disable vGPU’s console VGA.

G.2.1. Disabling Console VGA

The console VGA interface in vGPU is optimized to consume minimal resources, but when a
system is loaded with a high number of VMs, disabling the console VGA interface entirely may
yield some performance benefit.
Once you have installed an alternate means of accessing a VM (such as Citrix Virtual Apps
and Desktops or a VNC server), its vGPU console VGA interface can be disabled as follows,
depending on the version of Citrix Hypervisor that you are using:

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 Citrix Hypervisor Performance Tuning

‣ Citrix Hypervisor 8.1 or later: Create the vGPU by using the xe command, and specify
plugin parameters for the group to which the vGPU belongs:
1. Create the vGPU.
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-create gpu-group-uuid=gpu-group-uuid vgpu-type-
uuid=vgpu-type-uuid vm-uuid=vm-uuid
This command returns vgpu-uuid as stored in XAPI.
2. Specify plugin parameters for the group to which the vGPU belongs.
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-param-set uuid=vgpu-uuid extra_args=disable_vnc=1
‣ Citrix Hypervisor earlier than 8.1: Specify disable_vnc=1 in the VM’s
platform:vgpu_extra_args parameter:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=vm-uuid
platform:vgpu_extra_args="disable_vnc=1"
The new console VGA setting takes effect the next time the VM is started or rebooted. With
console VGA disabled, the Citrix Hypervisor console will display the Windows boot splash
screen for the VM, but nothing beyond that.

CAUTION:

If you disable console VGA before you have installed or enabled an alternate mechanism to
access the VM (such as Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops), you will not be able to interact with
the VM once it has booted.

You can recover console VGA access by making one of the following changes:

‣ Removing the vGPU plugin's parameters:

‣ Citrix Hypervisor 8.1 or later: Removing the extra_args key the from group to which
the vGPU belongs
‣ Citrix Hypervisor earlier than 8.1: Removing the vgpu_extra_args key from the
platform parameter
‣ Removing disable_vnc=1 from the extra_args or vgpu_extra_args key
‣ Setting disable_vnc=0, for example:
‣ Citrix Hypervisor 8.1 or later:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-param-set uuid=vgpu-uuid extra_args=disable_vnc=0
‣ Citrix Hypervisor earlier than 8.1:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=vm-uuid
platform:vgpu_extra_args="disable_vnc=0"

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Notice
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